


Fire Beats

by newtisgood (gurajiorasu)



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:40:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5230775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gurajiorasu/pseuds/newtisgood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minho was an ex-law-breaker. He put those dark days behind him and he tried to be the good guy that he was not. One day, he got a mail from Alby, his lifelong friend, telling that he needed Minho if Minho wanted to get back to ‘business’. Minho didn’t think twice, but probably he should. Because at Alby’s place, he found a blonde guy that might or might not be the fall of himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You see, Min- _fucking_ -ho, this is not what I asked for.”

Minho didn’t even flinched at the insult; he’s used to that already. His boss would just ramble to his heart’s content and it’s not always necessarily because Minho did something wrong. Most of the time, it was only because the boss thought that something was wrong. Minho sighed softly. His phone beeped and he checked it under the table.

> _From: Alby_
> 
> _Subject: Hey._

“Jesus. Can’t you do anything right?!”

> _I know your breaking-the-law days have ended._

“What’s so difficult in making a fucking report, Minho?!”

> _But I think I need your help._

“This is crap. A total crap. A junk that belongs to the garbage.”

> _I swear this is for a good reason._

“Have you ever, once in your life, done something right?!”

> _Equipment is on me. Everything has been taken care of._

“Shit. I thought hiring an Asian was a good decision.”

> _So if you want to get back in business, and if you’re willing to give your full commitment in it, you know where to find me._

“Apparently I hired a fucking broken Asian.”

> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Alby._

“You know what, Minho?! You’re lucky that you have this–”

“You know what, Boss?” Minho cut his boss’ words. He had his smirk on his face – something that his boss had never seen before. The real Minho had returned; no more yes-man Minho, no more goodie-two-shoes Minho. He had tried to be a good man, really; he paid his taxes, he parked his car on the right place, he applied for jobs that didn’t require to beat the hell out of a man. The fact that the world was against him in so many ways just proved that Minho wasn’t cut for this life. It was such an amazing record that he managed to work there for four months without breaking his boss’ nose. So, looking at this opportunity laid before him, Minho didn’t really feel the need to think twice. He leaned over the desk and whispered directly to his boss’ face,

“I  _shucking_ quit.”

* * *

 

Minho never thought that he would ever go back to this track again, especially with the invitation came from Alby. Alby was a genuinely good man, who even though had been friends with Minho since their soiling diapers days, had managed to stay crime-free for all that Minho knew. He was like the one who balanced out Minho’s sins; always doing angelic deeds like volunteering for homeless camp and such.

Minho knew this was kind of unlikely to be true, but it was indeed Alby’s mail and he needed to get out from the life he was running so bad that he would believe in anything. He headed to Alby’s place in a zap. He drove to the suburb and parked his car on a quiet neighborhood. He walked for about half a mile and knocked on a seemingly ran down garage. Someone peeked from a hole and Minho grinned; even only from the eye, he knew it was Alby.

“Minho,” Alby opened the door for Minho with delighted expression.

“Alby. So it’s really you,” Minho was relieved that he didn’t throw his job to the dumpster for nothing. He walked in. Inside, he could see that Alby was serious about getting Minho back to business. Minho could see screens. He could see blueprints. There were weapons and gadgets he was eager to take a look at. This was serious. “What happened to my buddy Alby?”

“Nothing,” Alby said, “Or a lot. Depends on how bad you want to know about it.”

“Just give me the gist of it so I can be sure that you’re not a psycho stealing my friend’s face.”

Alby laughed. He pushed Minho farther inside and they sat on the couch, “Let’s just say… we’re playing Robin Hood.”

“Oh,” Minho nodded. That sounded more like Alby.

“You’ll get your share, don’t worry,” Alby continued, “But I will be the one to set the target and all, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Minho gave a thumb up. He had never worked under anyone’s command before but he knew Alby well, he’d be good under Alby’s care.

“Great,” Alby grinned. He patted his thighs, lifted himself up, and walked towards the screens. He looked up at them, blue light falling on his face. He leaned back on a big table in front of the screens, folded his arms, and said, “We’ll start small. I’ll gather the guys tomorrow and we’ll be good to go.”

“Wait. Guys? What guys?” Minho felt an uncomfortable chill ran down his spine. He had assumed that he would work alone, like the few last missions that he did. Alby knew he didn’t work with other people anymore. Alby knew why.

“This is not a fling, Minho,” Alby looked over his shoulder, “Truth is, I already have a team–”

“You did this before?!”

“For a full year, yes. Let’s just say that I have a goal and I realized that we need your help in order to achieve it.”

Minho only stared at Alby, considering what he would do and if he was able to do it.

“They are capable people, I promise,” Alby looked back at the screen, “They can take care of themselves.”

Minho clenched his jaws. Fragments of unpleasant memory flashed through his brain. He willed them to go away, though, and it seemed to be working. He sighed and got up, “Don’t expect me to be all friendly to them.”

“I don’t expect that from any of you,” Alby turned to face Minho from where he stood, putting his palms on the table, “Tomorrow at 9. Sharp.”

Minho left and hoped that he didn’t just make the biggest mistake in his life.

* * *

 

The next morning, Minho came ten minutes before the clock stroke nine. There were already some people sitting around the center table with Alby standing, back facing the screens. Minho walked in and Alby stopped whatever he was talking.

The whole room looked at Minho. Someone’s face turned horrid in a snap.

“What’s this, Alby? Why is  _he_  here?”

Minho felt offended. He didn’t even know that blonde guy yet he already got some serious hating.

“Guys, this is Minho,” Alby said to the room.

“Why the fuck is he here, Alby?!” the blonde kept pushing Alby. The rest of the room looked at the blonde with a little bit of interest on their eyes.

“Who’s this shuck-face?!” patience was never Minho’s forte. He gave his best to not give in to his anger, but he couldn’t help but to raise his voice.

The blonde’s eyes widened as if he just heard the most shocking thing ever. He bit his lower lip in obvious anger and then stood up, “I’m leaving.”

“Well, goodbye,” Minho put as much sarcasm as he could in his words.

“What the–” the blonde guy suddenly charged to Minho and waved his fist to Minho’s face. Minho, out of reflect, grabbed the guy’s shirt and balled his fist as well.

“SIT DOWN OR I’LL CUT YOUR SHUCKING THROATS LIKE RIGHT NOW!” Alby yelled from across the table and both Minho and the blonde guy stopped trying to kill each other.

Minho sat back to his seat with his arms crossed, but the blonde kept standing, staring at Alby with his sharp eyes.

Alby sighed. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and said in lowered tone, “Come on, Newt. We need him. You know that.”

“Oh yeah? Well, that’s news for me,” the blonde folded his arms, “What have I missed that I don’t know you’re thinking that I’m no longer capable to do this?!”

“That’s not what this is about!” Alby groaned.

“Then why the hell is he here?!”

“Can somebody tell me what exactly his problem with me is?!” Minho spoke up again. The way Newt–apparently that was what the blonde guy was called–and Alby talked about him like he was not there really irritated him.

The rest of the room just shrugged lightly, seemingly not wanting to get involved with the heated situation that happened right before their eyes. Newt and Alby had a fierce staring contest and Newt ended it by turning away and leaving the place. Minho could hear a loud engine revving from outside.

So the big motorcycle he saw earlier was Newt’s.

Alby kept his eyes on Newt’s back until he was nowhere to be seen again. He heaved a sigh, moved to a strong looking guy next to him, and continued talking like the commotion earlier was just a fantasy that didn’t really happen, “This is Gally. He’s the tech guy. He can breach any security system that is digital and he can make you basically anything as long as it is powered by electricity.”

Gally gave a reluctant wave and Minho noticed how prominent his eyebrows were.

Alby took a step and placed his right hand on a girl’s back and his left on a boy’s, “These are Thomas and Teresa. Twins.  _Telepathic_. Teresa is good at acting and Thomas is good at panicking and finding a way out. I bet you know what they will be doing.”

Teresa rolled her eyes and Thomas waved with a smile on his face. Minho questioned the telepathic part of the introduction but he didn’t voice it out loud.

“This is Winston, he’s our sniper. And this is Frypan. He likes to stay and watch and whip us some soufflé, but if it’s needed, he can play with explosives,” Alby’s tone indicated that he was reaching the end of his introduction speech. He moved in front of Minho, folded his arms, and said, “And you, Minho, are our executor. You will be working side by side with Newt from now on.”

“What the– Didn’t you see him? He just walked away on you!” Minho sounded his protest quickly enough.

“Newt is my concern. He’ll be back by tomorrow and you  _will_  work with him. You hear me?”

Minho opened his mouth to retort but he decided against it. He just gave a sarcastic scoff and said, “Yeah. Good luck with that hell of a blonde.”

Alby closed his eyes in order to keep his emotion at bay and dismissed them all.

* * *

 

The next day, Minho found that Alby was right. Newt was there even before anyone else was. He sat on his seat with his glum face but otherwise, he didn’t say anything at all.

Minho came last. Again. Apparently everyone had their own preferred seat and it left Minho with that one seat next to Newt. He sat there with annoyance, not even sparing a glance to the blonde. Soon enough, Alby appeared and put an end to the uncomfortable silence that lingered between them.

“So, this is our first mission,” Alby pressed a button and a face appeared in one screen and a mansion in the other, “Our dear Mayor. I ran a background check and he was about as clean as a dumpster. We can say that he’s practically funding his love of diamonds and other gems with people’s money. Therefore, we’re taking those diamonds.”

“And those diamonds will be at..?” Frypan asked while making cocktails at the mini bar just beside the table.

“His beloved mansion, of course,” Alby answered.

Alby gestured at Gally and Gally took over the screens. He zoomed the mansion picture in and started explaining, “You might think he’s crazy for saving his diamonds at home but, look,” Gally showed a map of the mansion and several photos of guards, locks, and vaults, “If he spent a fortune for his diamonds, he spent  _a lot_  for keeping them safe. I’m talking about trained guards, CCTV, motion sensor, fingerprint lock, and a lot of vaults. He’s an order freak, he sorted all those diamonds based on their carats, clarity, and whatnot. They’re stored in individual small vaults inside the vault room. Each vault has its own password. I bet he has at least fifty passwords to take care of.”

“I figured that it would be a waste of time to open all those vaults and take all the diamonds, so I decided that we will only take the most precious ones. Probably four or five vaults to break and that’s it.”

“Tell me what to do with those passwords and I’ll open at least ten. No probs,” Newt stated, “Just don’t give me a dead weight.”

Minho widened his eyes. It was clear who Newt referred to as dead weight. He came that day with the intention to work as a team, but apparently his new partner insisted in having a contest with him. Minho threw his good intentions out of the window and scoffed, “Look who’s talking,” he turned to Alby, “I can take all of them alone but not with a loud brat tagging along with me.”

Newt sat up straight and crossed his arms, “What the hell do you think you are saying?!”

Minho shrugged, “I said what I said.”

“One more word and I swear I’ll kick you both out of this mission,” Alby sighed and tapped his fingers on the table. He had started to get tired of Newt and Minho’s quarrel and their first mission hadn’t even been started yet. It’s giving him headache. “You both work together, or not at all. I’m saying five, so five it is. If you think you can bring more, show me. But if along the way any of you put the mission on danger, I’ll turn you both to the police myself. If one of you go down, you both go down. If one of you get killed, I’ll kill the other. You’re one person now, you hear me?”

“Can you at least let me chose my partner myself?” Newt groaned.

“No.”

“For fuck’s sake, Alby–”

“No,” Alby repeated with finality. He looked at Newt and then to Minho to make a point and then said, “So can you shut your hole now or should I order Gally and Frypan to tape those holes up?”

Newt and Minho slumped further to their seats in synchronous movements. They realized this, made a disgusted face to each other, and looked away.

“Alright. Gally will take care of the cameras and the passwords. Teresa, you will have to earn the Mayor’s fingerprint. Thomas, take care of the exit plan. Winston, cover them. Frypan, prepare some small explosives for them just in case,” Alby said, “And you two, you have sixteen hours to learn the map, study the guards and the locks, and  _get along_. That’s it. Get to work.”

Teresa was the first to stand up and leave. She didn’t say a thing, but Thomas talked to her like she was talking to him. Winston followed Teresa after snatching his backpack and Frypan disappeared to the basement while muttering things like _‘there’s no such thing as small explosives’_. Alby went out and Gally put the map all over the screen. Only Thomas, Newt, and Minho were left to study the map with Gally.

Minho and Newt clashed a lot while discussing the plan with Gally. Minho tended to go with the most practical execution, while Newt thought everything through and preferred calculated plan. Fortunately, Gally was firm enough to get a hold on them both. He was the referee, the mediator. Meanwhile, Thomas mostly kept his mouth shut. He didn’t look like he was doing much but before Minho and Newt could settle their differences in doing things, he had already done with his three different exit plans.

Finally, they came up with a plan that hopefully would work with all of them. Basically, Winston would shoot tranquilizers to the front guards, Gally would turn the CCTV off for a really short period of time so the other guards wouldn’t get alerted too fast, then Minho and Newt would tackle the rest of it inside with the help of Gally. They would get away from the back gate, where Thomas would wait for them. If anything went wrong, they’d have Frypan’s mini explosive to make a havoc and get themselves out from the mansion.

Gally was explaining how they would break the vaults’ passwords when suddenly Thomas smiled and announced, “Teresa got the fingerprints.”

“Good,” Gally grinned, “I’ll make a glove thingy with that so you guys can open the big-ass vault.”

Minho squinted at Thomas, still feeling a bit weird with the mere idea of telepathy. Thomas shrugged at him and said, “Teresa said  _‘fuck-off’_.”

Gally and Newt snorted a laugh and they proceeded to perfect the plan once again.

It all went smooth, actually. The tension between Minho and Newt was gradually melted down with the existence of Gally and Thomas. But then, Gally said, “Alby was right, you both match like pieces of a puzzle,” and Newt’s face was hardened again. They shifted awkwardly and Minho tried to figure if Newt wanted to end the awkwardness with a laughter or a roll of his eyes or something, but it never came, so Minho decided that they hadn’t come to terms.

Newt broke the silence by standing up and leaving. He bumped into Teresa when he wanted to get out from the garage and didn’t stop to apologize.

Teresa rolled her eyes while the revving sound of engine blared through the night sky. She tossed a small bag to Gally and Gally checked on it immediately. She plopped down to where Newt sat, next to Minho, and asked, “What the hell is your problem with him?”

“I don’t know,” Minho shrugged, “Go ask him, I don’t even  _know_  him.”

“I hardly believe that,” Winston suddenly appeared. He went through the door and walked lazily towards the couch, “Whatever, though. You make him talk like a human so that’s that.”

Minho raised his eyebrow at that, not catching what Winston actually meant.

Thomas giggled, “He has never talked that much since the first time we met him. I actually thought he’s a mute.”

Teresa stared at Thomas and Thomas stopped talking. No one talked about that topic anymore but Minho couldn’t get it out of his mind.

Who was he to Newt, really?


	2. Chapter 2

Newt got back by midnight. He went straight to the main building of Alby’s house and they both got back to the garage area twenty minutes after, Alby telling them to get prepared and get out already. Gally gave Minho and Newt gloves that would make them have the same fingerprints as the Mayor and earpieces to communicate with everyone. Frypan gave them something in the shape of small marbles and told them to throw it as hard as they can when the situation called them to do so. Thomas recited the exit plan a hundred times before Teresa shut him up with a glare and Winston departed silently before anyone else.

They went with an SUV. A plain, boring white one that was nowhere near suspicious. Or dangerous. The inside of it was another story, though. The SUV was filled with guns, blades, cameras, monitors, and other things that a professional villain needs. But if anyone asked Minho, he was pretty sure that Newt was the most dangerous thing in that car.

Newt was behaving like he would explode the moment someone talked to him. He emitted deathly aura like he was about to murder someone and Minho was sure it was not in their plan. He played with a knife between his fingers like it was a freaking ballpoint and his eyes were holding grudge, away from being calm. Minho wouldn’t lie; a part of him expected Newt to suddenly turn at him and stab him mercilessly.

But instead, Newt folded he knife and pocketed it. He looked outside the window and sighed. They were already close to the mansion.

“Don’t lose it,” Newt muttered.

Minho doubted that he was the one that Newt talked to, but from the way Thomas peered at him through the rear mirror, he knew the words were directed to him.

“What?” Minho asked.

“Your focus. Whatever happens, don’t lose it,” Newt elaborated. His tone was steady.

Minho was taken aback. For the first time, they talked without the risk of popping their veins. He cleared his throat and tried to sound normal when he said, “This is not my first time, you know that, right?”

“Just–” Newt made a frustrated expression, closed his eyes for a brief moment, and opened them to look straight at Minho, “Get in there, take the goodies, and get out, okay?”

Minho stole a glance to Thomas. Thomas shrugged and avoided further eye contacts. Minho couldn’t help but to feel uneasy with this sudden conversation, so he just shrugged, “Okay. Whatever.”

The SUV stopped moving on a dark alley. A moment before alighting to the ground, Newt mumbled, “Just so you know, I oppose this plan.”

Minho wanted to ask what Newt meant by that, since all of them had built the plan together and agreed on it fair and square, but Newt was already out and pacing towards the mansion in silent steps. Minho tailed close behind the blonde, all the while wondering what in hell Newt was saying. Once they were near the front gate, Newt raised his hand up and they stopped.

There were three guards pacing in front of the gate, none of them seemed to be aware of their presence. Newt learned how they were talking for a moment and then Minho reached for his earpiece and tapped it three times, a sign for Winston to take care of them. Three seconds later, the three guards were down to the ground unconscious. Minho looked around for a second but he couldn’t find Winston anywhere. Newt ducked down to get a set of card keys and the guard’s earpiece, then he tossed the keys to Minho and replaced his earpiece with the guard’s.

Their entrance to the mansion was pretty smooth. Teresa had made sure that the Mayor was out of the town and no one was in the mansion except for the staffs and the Mayor’s 7-years-old daughter. Gally guided Minho through the passages and the turns in that ridiculously vast mansion and Newt tried to mimic the guard’s voice in order to keep the other guards from getting alerted. They located the vault room rather easily and the gloves that Gally made worked like wonder.

Minho started to think that it was the easiest mission he had so far until they both got inside the vault room. There were rows and rows of small vaults that contained the gems, but between the door and those vaults, there were rays of lasers crisscrossing. Motion sensors, apparently.

“You first,” Newt whispered, “I’ll guide you.”

“Is there no way to–”

“No,” Alby answered through the earpiece.

Minho groaned and stepped forward. He started from the far right, stepping over the first ray of laser, and ducked down to get through the middle section. He arranged his breath, one intake at a time. His movements were precise and careful, until he got in a position that made it impossible for him to look at where he was heading.

“Lift your right foot a bit and move it to your right,” Newt gave Minho guidance, “A bit more.. more.. stop! Yes. Put it down there. Keep your body flat like that and lean towards your right feet.”

Minho followed Newt’s direction and found himself at the other side of the room not so long after. He stood up straight, grinned, and prepared himself to guide Newt through it all. Newt didn’t look like he was about to step any further, though.

“Minho, stay focus,” Newt said instead, “Take the diamonds and then get the hell out of here.”

“W– what?!”

Newt turned his back on Minho and disappeared inside the mansion again.

 

* * *

 

 

“What the hell was that?!” Minho should be happy because he succeeded to bring home at least seven pockets of diamonds, but Newt’s disappearance made him furious. It was a handful to open numerous of vaults by himself and to get through the motion sensors again alone, but it was not Minho’s problem. Newt was straying away from their plan– _that_ , was his problem.

“Get lost,” Newt shoved Minho aside and walked past him. He arrived at Alby’s place roughly an hour after Minho did. With Winston.

“No, shank, you’re not going to leave me like that and get away with it easily. Explain, Newt. Now!” Minho insisted.

“No,” Newt kept walking away from Minho.

Minho lost it. The nervousness that he felt all the while Newt wasn’t in his sight was overwhelming. He could feel it leave him bit by bit the moment Newt appeared, but it was replaced by boiling anger. Minho had been through this once–having a partner that strayed away from the plan–and he didn’t exactly fond of the result.

Minho gripped Newt by the shoulder and threw the slighter to the wall next to them. He had his elbow on Newt’s shoulder blade and his wrist on Newt’s neck, pinning Newt effectively to the wall. Minho’s jaws were set and his veins were showing when he said through his greeted teeth, “Explain!”

Newt looked extremely calm for someone who was under the mercy of raging Minho. A faint smile formed on his face, even. His voice was calm as he said, “Or else what? You’ll kill me? Break my throat in half and gut the hell out of me?”

Minho balled his fist but he didn’t do anything. Newt’s eyes told him that the blonde wouldn’t even flinch even if he flew his fist to Newt’s face right then. Newt was furious too. Something was wrong, and Newt didn’t like it as much as he did.

“If you want to know what’s going on, why don’t you go and ask the one who plans it all?” Newt’s eyes focused on someone behind Minho. His lips curled into dangerous smile, “I bet your  _mate_  Alby knows a whole lot more about it than me.”

“Newt!” Alby’s voice was laced with warn.

“Because that’s what he does best, you know. Planning behind your back,” Newt continued with hate streaming in every syllable that he spelled out.

“Newt, go home.”

“I’ve told you that I don’t want him to be here, Alby!” Newt snapped so loud Minho had to take a step back from him.

“GO HOME!” Alby countered, “Go home for now or I’ll get you out from this for good.”

Newt’s corner of the lips twitched in annoyance. He clicked his tongue and shrugged Minho’s arm away from him before walking away.

Once again, they heard the engine revving from the outside.

 

* * *

 

 

“Sit,” Alby brought Minho to a study inside the main house. It was Alby’s father’s if Minho was not mistaken, but it seemed that the old man was no longer around. So was Alby’s mother.

Minho sat down across of Alby. He saw all the gestures that told him that Alby was frustrated and it made him wanted an explanation even more. “What is happening, man? You better talk to me or I’ll walk away on you just like what that shuck-face does every time.”

“Newt’s a good guy,” Alby started, “He might be a bit…  _cranky_ , but he’s good.”

“He left me in the shuckin’ vault, Alby, if there are words to describe him, good is definitely not one,” Minho pointed out, “And he hates me. For no apparent reason.”

Alby sighed, “He’s good, okay? Trust me.”

Minho studied Alby’s face for a while, letting his brain do its work. He squinted, “What the hell is going on? Are you hiding something for me?”

“Minho, can’t we not do this now?”

“He strayed from the mission but it’s  _me_  you’re talking to here, not him. You know something and I want you to explain.”

“The time for you to know everything will come, but not now.”

“You know it all along,” Minho stared in disbelief. He digested all the information and then he sarcastically nodded, “Oh, I know now. That’s why Winston stayed for Newt even though no one asked him to. What’s this? Everyone making a fool of me by not telling me things? Is this how we’re going to do this?!”

“Minho, please,” Alby pleaded, “When the time’s come, I’ll come clean to you. But for now, I can’t just tell everything to you.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because you haven’t trusted them enough.”

“Why would I?! You guys plan things behind my back, do you seriously expect me to–”

“They didn’t plan things behind your back,  _I_  do,” Alby cut, his eyes fierce on Minho’s, “Now, please, if you still have the littlest faith in this old friend of yours, just stick with us.  _Help_  us. I swear no one’s going to leave you without you knowing it beforehand again.”

Minho stared back at Alby’s eyes. His jaws were still set. His fists were still firm. His brain told him to leave the mess at once, but a part of him caught the desperation in Alby’s eyes. He knew trusting Alby after that night would be just plain stupid, but he wanted to.

Minho refused to accept that his friend wasn’t trustworthy anymore.

Minho clicked his tongue and stood up. The silence between them started to make him doubt his friend more and he didn’t like it. He left the room without looking back.

“You will not regret this,” Minho could hear Alby said that from behind him.

 

* * *

 

 

“He’s not talking again,” Winston suddenly said while loading one of his guns, “Your effect is wearing out?”

Minho looked up and followed Winston’s eyes to find Newt on the other side of the room, drowning himself in piles of papers. Minho shrugged, “I don’t care.”

“Oh, I thought you guys go along well,” Winston said lightly. He noticed that Minho was holding the crossbow wrong so he fixed him, “It goes this way, dude. Try not to put everyone here in danger.”

Minho scoffed and held the crossbow as instructed, “Me and him? We’re as well as my dog back at home.”

“And how well is your dog?”

“Dead.”

Winston chuckled and shook his head, “You crazy.”

Minho laughed and, for the first time, felt comfortable around his new teammate. Winston didn’t talk much, but he’s easygoing and willing to talk about things other than missions and such. He let Minho touch and observe some of his weapons and talked about them like he was talking about his babies. They spent a good share of their afternoon fiddling with weapons and munching on the food that Frypan left for them.

Somewhere between riffles and machetes, Minho asked, “What is he doing?”

Winston, who had already forgotten that Newt was in the room too, turned his head to Newt and answered, “Important stuffs. We call him the second in command not for nothing, you know.”

“What kind of important stuffs?” Minho prodded.

“To be honest, I don’t know.”

“Is there anyone who knows anything here?”

Winston chuckled, “Alby knows everything. Newt knows most of the things. I know my share, Frypan knows his. And so do the twins and Gally.”

Minho shook his head, “This is insane.”

“No one said it isn’t,” Winston patted Minho’s shoulder, “But it works, so I’m not complaining.”

Minho knew he couldn’t make Winston talk more about it, but he still kept his eyes on Newt. Newt’s behavior, Newt’s rage on him, Newt’s presence as well as his absence–all of it got Minho curious in the worst way. He felt restless around Newt. He felt indescribable annoyance that was almost illogical. It’s like Newt was a mystery that Minho was itching to unveil.

Winston was reading a mail on his phone when he said, “If it makes you feel better, the very first thing he asked me when he got out from the Mayor’s mansion was if you made it out safely.”

Minho froze at the statement. He needed the time to digest the information, but Winston didn’t give him any. The next thing he knew, he was being yanked up to standing position.

“Gally’s buying us drinks. Everyone’s there already,” Winston informed. “You coming?”

“Huh? Ah.. Yeah, sure,” Minho stumbled with his answer because his brain was trying hard to process everything.

Winston dragged Minho outside and stopped to ask Newt, “Hey, Newt, we’re going out for drinks, coming?”

Newt didn’t even lift his eyes from all the papers that were scattered all across the table, “Nope, I’m good.”

“Alright,” Winston grinned and continued dragging Minho out.

Minho didn’t tear his eyes away from Newt until Winston got him out of the vast garage.

 

* * *

 

 

Minho easily forgot everything that stressed him out the moment they entered the bar. Thomas welcomed him with a very drunk grin and Gally’s face was so red from the alcohol that he looked funny even without doing anything. Teresa was clever enough to stay sober while Frypan sat on a couch, giggling to himself like one happy boy that he was.

Minho refused to drink at first but then Winston called a dare so he dried out a glass of beer right away. The dare continued and they did unthinkable silly things throughout the night. Not so far from midnight, Thomas and Gally danced their hearts out on the dance floor while Winston and Frypan cheered on them from the sides. They all laughed merrily, like a bunch of boys on a park.

And it struck Minho, that they  _were_  just a bunch of boys. Once he got the chance to sit back and observe, Minho noticed that no one seemed to be older than him and Minho himself was only 25. He had his share of life that made him who he was right then, but what about the others? Gally might look mean, but under the influence of alcohol, he looked like a high school student having fun. Frypan’s chuckle was so boyish and Winston, once alcohol loosened him up enough, was no better than Gally. Meanwhile, Thomas… well, Thomas had never looked that old in the first place.

“We’re such a messed up bunch, aren’t we?” Minho concluded finally.

Teresa smiled–she looked very pretty when she’s not frowning, “Ugh, ‘messed up’ doesn’t do justice on us.”

Minho laughed at that. Teresa did too. They laughed even more when Thomas tripped and ended up on the floor.

They let the three boys played around some more. They watched, they laughed. Minho wondered if that was how it felt to fool around with his classmates if he ever went to college. He wondered if that was how it felt to be normal people–the ones who don’t break people’s houses for a living–and he smiled when he remembered he was one of those normal people for a certain length of time. It was much lonelier than this, he was sure.

This felt much more like when he was still one half of a pair. Not that he didn’t think of himself and Newt as a pair now that they’re working together, but it’s different.

Minho gritted his teeth. The memory brought painful feelings that it was attached to.

“Alright, time’s up,” Teresa suddenly stood up.

Minho looked up at her and tilted his head.

“Let’s go home before we turn into a messy pile of klunk. It’s all fun and nice now, but soon enough the alcohol will bring up ugly things,” Teresa said and turned to look at Minho, pointing the corner of Minho’s eyes, “See? And you’re not even half as drunk as them.”

Minho reached and found that a drop of tear was hanging on his eye. He brushed it off while laughing awkwardly, “It’s not– I was just–”

“It’s okay. You have your story, don’t need to explain it to me,” Teresa’s eyes got alerted as she tried to get a better look at the boys.

Someone was dropping on his knees, crying.

Teresa took her jacket and rushed towards the boys. Before making her way through the crowd, she added to her words before, “We all have our stories.”

Minho stayed still. He looked as Teresa pulled Frypan to his feet. He looked as Winston hugged Frypan and toughened him up. He looked as Thomas reached to grab Teresa’s hand.

What were their stories?

The question hadn’t stopped spinning in Minho’s head when his phone rang. He took it out from his pocket and saw who was calling.

It was Alby.

“Yes?” Minho picked up.

“Where are you?” Alby sounded panic, “Is Newt with you?!”

“At the bar. Newt’s not here. He was busy. At your place. What happened?”

“Newt’s missing,” Alby’s voice sounded like he was losing hope, “I think he got himself in trouble.”

Minho drove the car back to Alby’s place in insane speed.


	3. Chapter 3

When they got back to Alby’s place, most of them were already too out of it. Frypan passed out and even though Gally and Thomas forced themselves to keep functioning, the rest of them knew that they wouldn’t be much of a help. Winston wasn’t that drunk, but putting him behind the trigger was too risky. Their team wasn’t even half-functioning.

“What’s going on?” Minho demanded to Alby the moment his eyes fell on the older.

“Newt’s gone,” Alby answered and turned to Gally, “Can you track him down?”

“I’ll try,” Gally moved to the computer, bumping into a chair and the table on his way there.

“Are you sure he’s not just disappearing like usual?”

“He took things with him. His knife, some handguns, wires– He’s definitely doing something stupid now.”

Teresa’s face lit up with idea and she rushed to the table. She studied the papers which were scattered there, the ones that Newt was focusing on when they left him. Alby joined her and Minho moved to do the same, but Alby prevented him.

“Help Gally,” Alby said, “Take over the keyboard. We need to find him fast.”

Minho glanced to Gally and the boy was indeed struggling with the keyboard so he did as he was told. He took a chair beside Gally and took over the keyboard, letting Gally to tell him what to do. Five minutes and countless of commands later, a red dot appeared on the map that was displayed on the screen.

Minho squinted. He knew that place.

“Oh, shuck,” Gally turned his head to Alby and Teresa.

Alby looked up and his eyes were filled with horror, “That stupid–”

“What the fuck is he doing in that facility?” Minho asked with raising tone, “Alby, that is  _that_  facility, isn’t it? What the hell is he doing there?!”

“He cracked the code,” Teresa gasped while holding up a piece of paper, “Newt cracked the code. He’s executing the mission alone.”

“What code?!” Minho demanded, “What mission?!” This was getting too absurd and too suspicious for him. He didn’t like it.

“We don’t have the time for explanation now,” Alby took the car key and walked out, “We need to get him out of there.”

“Alb–”

“You  _know_  that place, you  _know_  what could happen if we take our sweet time here and let him walk in alone to that place. So shut the fuck up for now and, please, help me save that shank,” Alby yelled right in front of Minho and he regretted it right away. He ran his hand across his head and shook it desperately. With a softer voice, he said, “I’m sorry, I just– Come on, he’s your partner now, isn’t he?”

Minho clenched his jaws. Finally, he turned to Teresa, “Help Gally to assist me. Find Newt’s exact position and keep me updated about that.” He turned to Alby and hissed, “Today, I’m leading. Do  _exactly_  as I say.” He then snatched the key from Alby, walked towards the car, and drove it.

To the place where he lost his last partner.

* * *

 

“You stay here and watch out for me,” Minho didn’t give Alby any room for negotiation. He knew the place and he’s the executor, it was just logical for him to go. But Alby? Minho didn’t want to put more on the stake. Alby was clever and all, but he’s inexperienced in field. “Distract the guard for me. After I give you the sign to, drive to the gate, shoot a couple of times, and step on that pedal real hard.”

Minho walked to the back of the SUV and took a couple of handguns, a small knife, and some of Frypan’s small explosives. He wore his earpiece and tied his shoelaces two times while eyeing the building. He was nervous.

“Teresa, location?” Minho asked to keep himself focus.

“He’s inside,” Teresa answered, “Went in from the emergency exit on the back of the building. He’s moving. I don’t know how but he seems like he’s going through the walls.”

“Air vent,” Thomas suddenly joined in the conversation. He sounded much more sober than before, “He’s inside the air vent. There should be an opening either on the wall or on the ceiling.”

“ _Shuck_ ,” Minho immediately started moving. He also went through the air vent the last time and the similarity of everything put him on the edge. He ran along the fence, aiming to get in from the back gate. While running, he tried to remember everything that he did on that particular night that he wanted to forget so badly. He remembered running. He remembered waiting for someone to distract the guards. He remembered Ben.

Ben.

 _Ben_.

Minho’s steps faltered. His lungs were screaming for air and it wasn’t because of all the running that he was doing. He forced himself to be tough, to build a wall that protects him from all the painful aftertaste that mission gave him, but he would never consider to quit in the first place if it was that easy.

“He stopped,” Teresa’s voice snapped Minho back to his senses.

“I– I think this is not good,” Thomas added, panic lacing his voice.

Minho ran faster and he saw what he didn’t want to see. The guards were moving in frantic pace  _into_  the building. Only one guard was left to watch for the gate and it could only mean one thing.

“He got caught,” Alby whispered it.

“Shuck,” Minho cursed and forced his brain to work faster, “Where the shuck is he? Forget the distraction plan, I’ll get him from their hands.”

“Thomas, switch to other line. Help me with the exit plan,” Alby said and they were gone.

“Teresa, Newt’s  _exact_  location!” Minho demanded.

“Wait, Gally is trying to get visual!” Teresa answered. Then, “He’s inside. Oh, shit, he’s–”

“Tell me where the hell is he!”

“He’s– in the Control Room. Straight forward from the entrance, turn left on–”

“I know where it is,” Minho cut, “How many people?”

“Six. And counting.”

Minho gulped. The gate was right in front of him. He took out his handgun and, for the first time since so long, he started shooting.

* * *

 

_Left. Right. Left. Up the stairs. Left. Forward._

It made Minho sick that he still remembered the facility so clearly. He tried to load his gun but his hands were shaking so he ended up dropping it instead. He left it, deeming that it would be dangerous to aim with the state he was in. He gripped his knife and wished that his body and mind wouldn’t betray him. He needed to be as focused as he could be. He needed his reflex. He needed to be quick.

When Minho arrived to where Newt was, the blonde was being dragged by a group of guards. He was thrashing, swinging his knife here and there until a guard took it from him. Newt was beaten up thoroughly. Minho could see blood, Minho could see bruises.

Minho charged the moment a guard raised the back of his riffle to hit Newt’s back of the head. He threw his knife fast and hard, making it planted to the guard’s left chest. Before anyone could grasp what was happening, Minho knocked a few guards out and freed Newt.

Now it was Minho and Newt, back to back and unarmed, surrounded by numerous guards.

It felt nostalgic but also weird, how Minho and Newt moved in symphony to dodge and attack. Somehow, Minho felt the chemistry that he thought had died along with Ben. It felt easy. Minho kicked, Newt punched. Minho stole a knife from a guard, Newt earned himself a riffle. Minho pushed Newt back to dodge a bullet, Newt turned around and shot. Minho stabbed a guard that was trying to get Newt from behind, Newt knocked another guard that was behind Minho with his riffle.

They were outnumbered, but they were lethal.

Minho got a bullet grazing his arm and Newt got a long, deep cut across his back, but they were relentless.

In his lifelong career of being a law-breaker, never even once Minho injured this many of people. It’s against Ben’s rule to injure people, let alone killing them.

And that day, Minho kind of believed that he had broken the rule. Big time.

When the last guard around them had fallen to the floor, Minho could hear Alby and Teresa talking all at once. Alby was giving him instructions on how they should get out from that place and Teresa was urging them to do it fast because more guards were approaching.

Minho dashed to the exit at once, but Newt moved towards the opposite direction.

“Newt, this way!”

“Leave! I have things to do.”

Minho grabbed Newt’s arm and pulled the blonde with him, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Newt yanked his arm free and confronted Minho, “It’s not your decision to make.”

“For fuck’s sake, Newt!”

“I didn’t ask you to come!” Newt snapped.

Minho wanted to snap back but he saw a hoard of guards coming from behind Newt. He groaned-he really didn’t like this.

Minho raised his arm and he knocked Newt unconscious.

* * *

 

No one was talking when they got back to Alby’s place. Winston rushed to get the first aid kit and Frypan, who had finally woken up, checked on Newt’s and Minho’s wounds. Alby was furious, Minho was more than furious, and everyone knew better than to say anything stupid.

Or anything at all, to be precise.

Frypan and Gally carried Newt to Alby’s room and Winston took care of Minho’s wounds with the help of Teresa. Thomas sat restless on the corner of the room, occasionally eyeing at Alby who looked like he was a second away from exploding and then to Minho who didn’t look any better.

When they heard Frypan’s and Gally’s shouts, they knew Newt was awake. Newt came in with angry stomps and the two guys followed behind him, trying to stop him.

Newt immediately grabbed Minho by his collar and pulled him, “What was that?!”

“Ask that to yourself,” Minho hissed. He was too angry to even yell.

“I was so fucking close, and you ruined it! I didn’t ask you to come, you moron!”

“You,” Minho pushed Newt roughly. He jabbed his index finger to Newt’s chest, “What you did is nothing other than blatantly stupid.”

“That is none of your business!” Newt snapped.

“IT IS!” Minho lost it. He really lost it. The trip inside the facility–no, the mere sight of the facility–had done unthinkable things to Minho. It was like his scar was being scrape open, and then he realized that it wasn’t even a scar in the first place; it was still an open wound, bleeding and painful. “You, as much as I despise it,  _are_ my partner, Newt. You are a part of this fucking team. We are responsible of you as much as you are supposed to be responsible of us. You being an egoist jerk doesn’t mean that we are too!”

“I went there by my own. Alone. On  _my own_  will, with  _my own_  plan. I didn’t need all of you morons to come and ruin it!”

“IF I DIDN’T, YOU AND YOUR FOUL MOUTH WOULDN’T BE HERE NOW!”

“AND WHAT CARE DO YOU HAVE ON THAT?! EVEN IF I DIED, YOU’D JUST GO AND FIND ANOTHER PARTNER, WOULDN’T YOU?!”

Minho looked straight to Newt’s eyes with disbelief. He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he punched Newt right on his face. Hard. Without hesitation. The pain he felt on his knuckles was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling inside of him.

Thomas and Winston jumped to hold Minho from landing another hard punch on Newt. Frypan and Gally had their hands on Newt.

“You don’t know how it feels to lose someone on your team,” Minho hissed and he knew his tears were betraying him, but he didn’t care. He was angry. So angry. “You don’t know how it feels to lose a partner. You don’t know what it does to the team, what it does to me. YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE US GO THROUGH ALL THAT, NEWT!  _YOU. KNOW. NOTHING!_ ”

Newt stopped trying to free himself from Frypan and Gally. He stared at Minho. His eyes were red and gradually became glassy. He pushed Frypan and Gally away and burned Minho’s eyes with his.

Newt’s voice was low and raw when he said, “You’re  _not_  the only one who has lost someone, you self-centered bastard. You better look around you. Ain’t no one in this room is less experienced than you in that field.”

Then, he left.

* * *

 

Alby had been so quiet after that night. Minho left without saying a thing after he channeled his anger by kicking the table until it flipped over. He went back to the city, locked himself up in his tiny apartment for days, and decided that he wouldn’t come back no matter how many mails Alby sent him.

Alby had sent none, by the way.

It felt like a messy breakup–no closure, no explanation, only anger.

A week passed and Minho deemed it was the time for him to go out and start a new life. He didn’t think he’s ready for the stressing work life again, yet he didn’t feel like breaking the law alone. So he took a part-time job as a bartender on a bar not far from his apartment.

The bar was small and rather quiet. Most of the nights, Minho would be there all alone, serving a few old men who just wanted glasses of alcohol, solitude, and nothing more. That’s good for him. That’s perfect. Because those were all he wanted too–glasses of alcohol, solitude, and nothing more.

Another week passed and Minho’s anger had calmed down a bit. He still felt terrible, though. He felt restless and he felt wrong, as if he should be doing something but he didn’t know what. He didn’t get better at all and he didn’t even crack the slightest of smile since that night.

A lot was going on in Minho’s head, but he chose to ignore it. There’s Ben. There’s Alby. There’s Newt. There’s the rest of the team. He just shut his brain and let them all become ghosts in his mind–hazy and blurry. Sometimes, the thoughts would overpower him and he would feel the anger again, but he had all the glasses to wash and all the ice cubes to crush so he’s good. This job was good for him.

One night, Minho’s mind wandered to Newt’s words. What did he mean by no one was less experienced than him in losing someone? Did all of them lose someone too? What was Newt trying to do anyway? That facility was good for nothing, as far as Minho knew. The vials that they brought home the night he lost Ben didn’t worth that much to begin with.

It didn’t worth Ben’s life, for sure. Or Newt’s, even though Minho was sure as hell that he hated Newt to the bones right then.

As if they came to answer Minho’s questions, Winston and Gally came to the bar that night.

“I’m not going back,” was the first sentence that Minho said to them.

“Not expecting you to,” Gally said. Both he and Winston sat down on the chairs.

“Beer,” Winston said.

“Me too,” Gally followed suit.

Minho rolled his eyes and served them their beers reluctantly. A man left the bar and they were all by themselves. They acted like they didn’t care, but it was obvious that each of them wanted to say something.

“Listen, with or without you, we’re still going to continue our mission so if you want to be a barista instead, it’s cool,” Winston was the first to spit it out, “You’d be a great help for us, but we can’t force you. However, I do think that you deserve at least an explanation.”

“Finally, someone’s talking,” the sarcasm was thick and real.

Winston sighed, “Alby was afraid.”

Minho arched his eyebrow.

“He’s afraid that you wouldn’t want to help us. That’s why he kept everything from you.”

Minho scoffed, “I can’t see why not telling could make it a wiser option.”

“Well, it works,” Gally shrugged, “Or worked. You are in the team. Or were.”

“But then everything fell apart and I don’t even know what was happening,” Minho pointed out. He sighed, “Anyway, why would he think that I wouldn’t help him. I jumped right in without knowing a thing, I don’t see why–”

“We’re going to break in to that facility. That’s the main mission,” Winston cut.

Minho furrowed his brows, “Why would we?!” he looked at Winston and then at Gally, “Why would  _you_?!”

“See?” Gally leaned back to the chair, “This is why Alby doesn’t want you to know it first.”

“I’ve been there and I swore to myself that I won’t go back there ever again,” Minho stated fiercely, “The crazy blonde made me go there again and look how we are doing now.”

“Newt is stubborn and a bit crazy, yes. I can’t say that what he was doing is right, but I understand him. If I were in his place, I might do what he did,” Winston said. And then he stressed it again, “ _Might_.”

“Then you’re as crazy as him.”

Gally smirked but it didn’t look mean or cocky. It looked bitter. He downed his beer and said, “But he was right, you’re not the only one who has lost someone here.”

Minho stared at them. He had a feeling that this was more serious than he thought it would be. “Alright, stop giving teasers like this is a shucking movie. Explain.”

Gally and Winston smiled and looked at each other. Winston emptied his glass of beer and put it in front of Minho.

“Then, we’ll need stronger alcohol.”


	4. Chapter 4

Minho finally decided to close the bar and served his friends scotch. They drank, and then Gally started to talk.

“Do you have a brother?” Gally asked but he didn’t look at Minho. He looked at his swirling scotch.

Minho took a moment to think on his answer. “I don’t have any. But there’s a close one,” he wanted to say  _Ben_  but he decided against it, “Alby.”

Gally nodded an understanding nod. He sipped his liquor and continued, “Well, I do have one. Younger one. The funny thing is, he’s nothing like me. I am this man, you see. Mean-faced, rough, judging–I heard them all directed to me but never to him. He’s always the sweet one. The chubby one with rosy cheeks. The nice kid. The sweetheart. He managed to make everyone love him. Me? I hated him.”

Minho squinted, trying to figure out where this was heading.

“My life was simple. Mother, father, Chuck, and that’s it. I was an ordinary kid who liked to yell at his baby brother. Until one day, my parents got into an accident and passed away,” Gally stopped to get more alcohol into his system, “And all I have is Chuck, that little brother of mine.”

Minho looked at Winston, trying to gauge how believable Gally’s story was. He just couldn’t comprehend how a man like Gally could utter words with that much sadness in it. It felt not real.

“We went to an orphanage and I remember how afraid Chuck was. He tried to look strong and brave all the time, but I know how sad he was. How scared he was. I kept promising that everything was going to be okay. All we need to do is study and study and study so we could make our own lives,” Gally rubbed his palms across his face, “He did as I told him. He’s such an obedient kid, I could begin to see why everyone loves him.”

Winston put a hand on Gally’s back. Gally had started to tear up. He was not crying–the tears betrayed him.

“Then, these people came to the orphanage. They were looking for a smart kid; I overheard that. They talked about programs and such, something that I didn’t really understand but sounded so much better than orphanage. I mean, they were looking for the best kid, it must be for something good. So I made sure they’d pick Chuck. They observed for weeks and they did pick Chuck,” Gally took a deep breath and when he released it, it was shuddering, “Little did I know that they would  _never_  bring him back to me. I didn’t know where he was taken to, I didn’t know what they did to him. All I knew was that Chuck never went home and that no one would talk about him no matter how stubborn I was in asking. I remembered the letters on their uniform so I searched for it.”

“And that’s how he gained his skill,” Winston patted Gally’s back as if he was a proud father.

Gally smiled a bit to that, “Yeah. It was so absurdly hard to find anything about them so– yeah. I learned things. Turned out, they’re this organization that uses kids for experiments,” Gally dropped his fist to the table, “They’re using  _Chuck_  for experiments!”

“Wait, what?” Minho really didn’t expect something as complicated as this. He thought he would hear a story about burglars and thieves pinning the same treasure or the like. He couldn’t understand this.

“I spent years behind my computer in order to search for my brother. I found the hints about the location, but I didn’t know what to do. That’s when I encountered someone who was interested in this organization too. It’s Ben.”

“Ben?!” Minho didn’t expect to hear Ben’s name from any of them.

“Yes, Ben.  _Your_  Ben,” Gally confirmed, “We have worked together before, actually. We just have never met until Alby.”

“He had something to do with this?!”

Gally exchanged glances with Winston and continued, “He never wanted you to know about this. If we ever got caught, he wanted you to be able to say ‘ _I don’t know_ ’ without lying.”

“What?!”

“His target was always from the government, right? Mayors, ministers, governors. Eventually, he discovered this organization. He’s a good man at heart, he naturally wanted to help all the kids,” Gally continued, “We then found these siblings trying to find their other sibling. They’re triplets. Telepathic. One of the three got caught, the other two were on the run. Yes, they were Thomas and Teresa. Their brother is inside the facility, so they could get some information from him using their special skill. The boy got an ally inside the facility. A guard was willing to give the exact location of the Control Room and all. Too bad he slowly became unreachable by telepathy. They’re messing with his brain.”

“The guard convinced a couple of friends to help and contacted Ben. Your trip to the facility wasn’t for the vials, Minho. Ben was about to rescue the kids,” Winston took over the conversation, “The organization knew that Jeff, the guard, had been contacting Ben. It was a trap so they could capture the people who had been sniffing on them. Ben fell right to the trap.”

Minho closed his eyes. He remembered the closing doors, the yells, and the explosion. He never heard about rescuing kids, though. All he ever heard was stealing vials. The information came piling up on him and he was not ready. He considered the possibility of Winston and Gally lying, but something inside of him told him that they were telling the truth.

“Jeff was executed a day after. His friends ran away before they found out that they were helping too,” Winston gave a sad smile to his scotch, “Me and Fry.”

Minho looked up at Winston, hoping that Winston would break into a laughing fit. But Winston did not. Minho felt bad because he didn’t know a thing. He felt bad because Newt was right. Minho heaved a heavy breath after a moment that he used to process everything and asked, “So you guys want to continue what Ben was doing?”

“Yes. We want to rescue the kids.”

“And not telling me at all,” Minho breathed out. He felt weird. One part of him was hurt because Ben that he trusted so much had lied to him constantly, but another part of him was relieved because Ben was a genuinely kind man at heart. Just like what he had always believed.

“Alby said that you might back away if we told you this. Let’s be real, you wouldn’t want to listen to us at all if you haven’t involved this far. The moment you hear that we’re going to the facility, you’d leave us,” Gally pointed out.

Minho couldn’t deny that. Heck, he wouldn’t believe it at all if he hadn’t seen by his own eyes how serious these guys were in mission. They were not after money. That much, Minho could tell.

“It’s Alby who gathered us again and, to be honest, why he would do that is still a mystery to me. But, there, we’ve told you the truth,” Winston smiled.

“Newt. What about Newt?” Minho couldn’t help but to be curious.

“No clue,” Winston admitted.

Gally shook his head as a sign that he knew nothing about Newt too. Then, he said, “But.. how should I put this.. If we’re all generally sad and desperate, he’s angry. So fuckin’ angry. Way more than any of us.”

Minho took a deep breath. Newt was also the most stubborn of them all, who knows how bad his story was. Minho felt awful. Terribly awful. “Where’s he?”

“At Alby’s. Alby brought him back around a week after and he was a mess. The wound is not a little one, you know. He had fever and all,” Winston sighed, “He got better but he’s not talking. He only comes out from his room when it’s time for us to discuss our plan, but our plan is not going anywhere, so–”

Minho took his keys and walked out from the counter, “Come on.”

Winston and Gally looked at him with question on their faces.

“You said I got him talking, right?”

They went back to Alby’s that night.

* * *

 

Minho didn’t know that Newt had a room at Alby’s place. He himself had never own one, and he thought he was the closest to family that Alby had.

But then again, after everything that he discovered that night, it was not surprising that there were things that Minho didn’t know about.

“If you’re here just to pick a fight with him again, then you’re not welcomed,” Alby said but there was no heat in his voice, just tiredness.

“Fighting is the only communication that I know when it comes to him. Guess whose fault it is.”

“Minho!”

Minho rolled his eyes, “I won’t kill him.”

Unexpectedly, Alby caught Minho’s arm. “Promise me.”

It took Minho by surprise. Did Alby really think that he would kill Newt? Who was Newt, really? His lover or something?

“Promise me, Minho,” Alby repeated.

Minho gripped Alby’s arm and pushed it away from himself, “The only time that I probably killed a human was to save him, in case you forgot.”

Alby’s arm fell to his side and he stepped back.

* * *

 

The door to Newt’s room wasn’t even closed. The mess reached the door and Minho knew that no one had bothered to get in and slap the sense back to the blonde. The blonde got to do what he wanted to do. How convenient.

“Alright, before anything else, please tell me right now if you’re Alby’s boyfriend or something,” Minho threw it as a smartass joke because it was easier than an ordinary conversation.

Newt, who was sitting on the windowsill while smoking, raised his middle finger.

Minho proceeded further inside. Newt didn’t punch him or yell at him–it was a good sign. He climbed to the windowsill too and tossed a can of beer to Newt.

Newt caught it easily. “Who talked to you?”

“Gally and Winston.”

“Oh, good. No wonder you’re here being all nice and civil,” Newt scoffed. “You think I’m like them, huh? You think I have a tragic story that gets me weeping like a kid every time I’m drunk? Sorry, I punch people when I’m drunk.”

“I expect nothing less from you,” Minho opened his can of beer. “What’s your story, then?”

Newt kept inhaling the cigarette he had between his fingers. His eyes were fixated to an imaginary spot across the back yard. He wasn’t talking.

Minho sighed. He came with the will to understand. He wanted to understand Newt. He wanted to know about Newt–because after all that he heard, it came to him that probably Newt had his reasons too. So, he decided to talk first, “Ben.”

Newt turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“The reason why I despise that facility is Ben,” Minho let out dry laughter when he realized that Newt might already know about that. Newt might even know better than him because after everything that was revealed to him, he wasn’t sure if he know anything at all about Ben. He continued, though, “I met him when I was just a little kid. I have no one. I was abandoned by my family. Alby took care of me but he could only do so much. His parents were dying, it was already hard enough for him to take care of himself. Ben asked me to join him and in no time we were stealing things from rich guys.”

Newt smashed his cigarette to the wall and flicked it away.

“I look up at him. Even though we were stealing, he always told me again and again that we only take things from people who deserve it,” Minho smiled to himself, “He’s the reason why I didn’t die starving. He’s the reason why I have a roof above my head. He’s my teacher, my coach, my–”

“Brother?”

“Nah, he never allowed me to call him that,” Minho smiled bitterly. It was like an old wound that was etched inside his heart. He wanted Ben to be his brother, too bad Ben already had a brother back home. Ben loved his brother so much that Minho couldn’t help but to be jealous all the time. It was stupid, but it was real. Minho took a sharp breath and willed himself to continue, “Anyway, we were unbeatable until the day we went to that facility. He strayed away from our plan and the next thing I knew, the doors were closing on him, trapping him inside the room. I tried to help him but the guards were after me. Then,  _boom_ , the explosion took my partner away. I always thought that he was just stupid, until Gally and Winston told me that he was trying to be a hero.”

Newt scoffed and Minho knew he was rolling his eyes.

“There. Now you know why I wanted to rip your throat open with my bare hands,” Minho winced, “The experience is still so fresh in my head. Once is enough for a life time.”

“I don’t see what you are getting at.”

“I’m trying to make you talk.”

“By telling your story that I don’t have any interest on?”

Minho started to think that this was a bad idea. “Listen, Newt. If we’re about to continue this, we should at least understand each other. Else, we’d have our hands on each other’s throat again.”

Newt looked at Minho, “I thought you quit.”

“I am stubborn and self-centered, but I’m not heartless. Man, I just saw Gally cry!” Minho tried to lighten up the atmosphere a bit.

Newt snorted a laugh. He then took a deep breath and sighed, “Well, it’s nice to see you lot get along well.”

“What’s your story?” Minho tried again.

“I have none,” Newt answered.

“Hey, come on–”

“I am an orphan. Not like Gally, I have no memory of myself before orphanage,” Newt interrupted Minho’s complaint by proceeding, “I sneaked out from that hell one day and that’s when I met Alby.”

“That guy attracts homeless kid.”

“Yes he does,” Newt laughed a bit. “Don’t worry, he didn’t help me more than he helped you. He just provided me a place, that’s all.”

Minho waited for Newt to continue but Newt didn’t seem like he was about to do so. So, he prompted, “Then?”

“Then, what? No ‘then’. That’s all that I have. The story of my life.”

“Why in hell did you do your suicide mission then? Come on, Blondie, don’t mess with me.”

Newt opened his beer and gulped it all. When he’s finished, his eyes were full or anger. “Let’s just say that they took something very precious from me. I want to have a payback, that’s all.”

“And what is this precious something?”

Newt didn’t answer. He just crashed his can of beer with one hand.

“Not gonna tell me, huh?” Minho got the hint. He was curious, to be honest, but he could read the situation pretty well. If he was about to prod more, he’s sure they’d break into another fight again. It wouldn’t be pretty. “That’s okay, I think it’s enough. We know enough now.”

Newt gave a sarcastic laugh, “What do we know?”

“We know that we have to get back there no matter what. You know that hiding something from me might trigger the hell out of me. I know that you’re more than willing to die in order to crush them, so I have to make sure that you wouldn’t.”

Newt looked at Minho, studying.

“We now know that we have the same target, but for different reasons. Believe me, Newt, you don’t have to die for this,” Minho turned around and jumped off the windowsill, “So, are you going out and join us to make a new plan, or are you going to just sit there and be miserable?”

“It’s a thousand times harder now, I’m telling you,” Newt mumbled but he turned around and jumped off the windowsill too.

* * *

 

The team functioned fully again afterwards. Gally told Minho what he was missing–which was not much–and Frypan fed them with pizza. They sat around the table again, ready to get back to business.

Alby needed a bit of coaxing before he wanted to lead the team again. He had thought of himself as a failure and he had intended to just stay away from the mission, but apparently both Minho and Newt refused to have any of that. At least, they had a thing in common; they both cared for Alby very much.

“Alright, update on where we are now. Starting from Gally,” Alby began the meeting and everything felt right again.

“They reset the security system. I can’t access the cameras. I’m working on it but it’s tougher than before,” Gally said.

Alby’s eyes went to Winston and Frypan.

“They changed the shift for the guards. It’s more random now. We haven’t figured out the pattern yet, but they’re hiring a massive amount of new guards now,” Frypan was the one to do the talking, “Winston spotted new snipers.”

The next one was Newt, “I cracked the code but I bet they’ve changed it again now. We have to find the new code. Again.”

“Alright, we’ll figure that out,” Alby massaged the bridge of his nose. He noticed that Teresa and Thomas had been looking down and fidgeting, “Twins, what’s up?”

Thomas looked up. His eyes were red. “We reached Aris earlier.”

The rest of the room fell silent in apparent interest and suspense. Minho figured that Aris was a third of the triplets.

“He only said one sentence and then he’s gone again.”

“What did he say?” Frypan asked.

Teresa was the one to answer that,

“ _The time is running out._ ”


	5. Chapter 5

The whole room fell into an eerie silence after Teresa had told them about Aris. She was shaking, and so was Thomas. Their eyes were red and glassy. Desperation was oozing out from both their eyes.

“Alright,” Alby placed his palms on the table to support himself, “Alright, we’ll– we’ll have to hurry.”

“Did he say anything else?” Minho looked across to Teresa and leaned over demandingly.

“No. He– he just said that and then he was gone again.”

“Did you say anything to him? Can’t you ask him things? Like the situation inside and–”

“Minho!” Thomas stood up and slammed his fist to the table. He was clearly upset. “If we said he’s gone, then he’s gone! Do you really think we wouldn’t try to contact him?! We’ve been trying to do just that for years now. Trust me, the moment he says anything, we’ll tell you.”

Minho was surprised by the harshness of Thomas’ words. He could see pain in the other’s eyes and it was infectious. He felt a hand sneak around his arm and pull him back to his seat.

It was Newt.

“I’m sorry,” Minho mumbled, feeling idiotic. Of course Thomas and Teresa had done that. Of course.

Teresa pulled Thomas back gently, just like what Newt had done to Minho, and then squeezed Thomas’ arm. They were talking inside their heads; even Minho could tell. Thomas took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

“No, I– I’m sorry,” Thomas said finally.

“Okay. First, we have to calm down.” Alby took over again, “We need to be calm to figure this out.”

“We have to find the new code,” Gally pointed out.

“I still don’t know what code you guys are talking about, you do realize that right?” Minho reminded them.

“We need the codes to open the gate so the kids can get out,” Frypan explained, “But they change it every time an intruder is detected.”

“Only authorised people know this code straight out,” Newt said, “But the government has the code too. Well, not really, but kinda. Some have the encrypted code, others have the key to decrypt it. They’re issued in pairs, encrypted file A can only be decrypted by key A. But no one knows which file goes to whom.”

“Well, the organisation knows,” Winston corrected, “But it’s impossible to get close to them. Their identities are protected like crazy.”

“That’s why we needed a full year to find a pair that matched,” Gally said, “You were lucky you came right when we found the correct one.”

“But we can’t afford to wait another year,” Alby stated.

“We have to find another way,” Thomas urged.

“These encrypt decrypt things will be distributed next week, I think,” Frypan moved to take the calendar, “Yeah, between next week and the week after. They always distribute it around a month after the change.”

“We can take it while it’s being distributed.”

“They’ll just change it again.”

“Steal it, crack it, and go straight there before they notice?”

“Cracking needs time, dude.”

“How the hell are they going to distribute it?”

“Have no idea, to be honest. Probably, personally?”

“Shit.”

“Yes, shit.”

“Why the hell don’t they use e-mails?”

“Because people like me can get into it easily.”

“Oh, aren’t they clever?”

“Of course, you dumbass. They’re scient–”

“WAIT!” Thomas and Teresa suddenly yelled, stopping their session of brainstorming. Their hands were stretched out and they looked at one point with wide-blown eyes.

Everyone shut their mouths and waited.

Two minutes passed before the twins were finally moving again.

“He’s gone again.” Thomas rubbed his face with his hands.

“Aris?” Newt leaned his body forward a bit.

“Yes,” Teresa answered. “He said a word and then he left again. We tried to talk to him but it’s empty. He’s not there anymore.”

“What was the word?” Alby demanded.

“It was–”

“Wait,” Newt stopped Thomas and walked towards a small cabinet next to the screens. He tossed a marker to Thomas and dragged a white board from around where Winston stored his weapons, “Write it up.”

Thomas stood up and started writing.

SCRABBLE

“What?” Frypan furrowed his forehead.

“I don’t know,” Thomas said in an almost defensive tone, “We used to play scrabble. The three of us. But I don’t know why he would say that specific word.”

“Scrabble,” Minho hummed, feeling the word roll out of his mouth while his brain tumbled around with it. “Hey, you said, they’re messing with his brain, right?” he turned to Winston.

“It’s actually Gally who said that.” Winston threw out a short defence.

Minho slapped himself mentally, he should have been more careful about the subject; Thomas and Teresa were right there. But he kept on, “I mean– is it possible that they’re… tapping into your… telepathic line?”

“That’s–” Teresa started but she stopped.

“We think it’s impossible.” Thomas continued.

“That’s what I thought about telepathy until I met you guys,” Minho retorted, “I mean…if that’s the case then he’s probably trying to play scrabble with you. With us. I don’t think the organisation are the only ones who are thinking of putting code on code.”

The room fell into silence again. Everyone was thinking. Considering.

Newt was the first to make a decision, “Nice theory. In that case, Thomas and Teresa should take turns sleeping, in case Aris sends something during the night. Meanwhile, we still have to work on another plan.”

“List everyone who will receive the files first,” Alby said.

“We can use the list that we have, but I’ll have to update it.” Gally typed on the keyboard and a long list of names appeared on the screens. “There are hundreds of them.”

“There must be some sort of logic to it. Newt, you cracked the code, what do you think?”

“I’ll have to look at it, but I can try to figure it out.”

“Good. Winston and Fry, both of you try to figure out when the exactly the distribution is happening. And how.”

“Got it.” They replied in unison.

“Minho, help Newt, you’re both freakin’ geniuses. You’ll do it faster working on it together.”

“Okay.”

“This place should be awake 24/7. Thomas and Teresa, make sure at least one of you can hear Aris when he wants you to. Figure out who wants to sleep first. I’ll take care of the diamonds for now. We need fresh funds.” Alby stood up, “You’re all dismissed.”

The team moved. They knew what they had to do.

* * *

 

The twins ended up huddled up together on the sofa even though Alby had offered them a room upstairs. They said they couldn’t sleep anyway, and both Newt and Minho didn’t have the will to argue with them, so they just let them be.

Gally worked with his computer non-stop. He kept giving names and details to Minho and Newt, dropping printed out photos for the executors to study. Newt had pointed out two people from whom they got their last match, but they couldn’t figure out what the logic was behind them. It seemed as if the files had been sent out in a totally random arrangement.

It was close to morning when Thomas got another word from Aris. Teresa had fallen asleep but she jerked awake the moment Aris appeared in their thoughts. Thomas walked to the whiteboard and he wrote the word up.

SAME

Thomas and Teresa stared at the word for a good while. They pondered on it, tinkered with it, and tried rearranging the letters around. It still didn’t make sense.

“He’s probably going to tell you some other words,” Newt interrupted at one point, “Go to sleep now. At least one of you should rest.”

Thomas took Teresa’s arm, but she threw him a glare. Gally sighed from where he was sitting and Minho took a short glance towards the clock.

3 AM

Newt stacked some files away to work on new ones. His eyes didn’t leave the papers when he opened his mouth again, “Either one of you goes upstairs and takes a rest, or I’ll make you.”

Thomas and Teresa argued over who would go first, before Thomas finally gave in. Teresa had probably argued that she had fallen asleep earlier, so Thomas had no choice but to walk out of the garage with a mumbled, “I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Make it two.” Newt replied with a stern command. He then directed himself to the computers, “You too, Gally. We’ve done enough for now, you can continue later.”

Gally didn’t put up a fight. He clicked several things on his computer and got up, massaging the bridge of his nose while crossing the room. “Mind if I share the room with your brother?” he asked Teresa.

Teresa shook her head and Gally continued making his way upstairs. The girl moved to Frypan’s little bar and fixed a pot of coffee.

Minho was more than pleased when the scent of the coffee hit his nose. He was analysing the details of some of the Mayor’s employees, assessing each and every one of them. He searched for people with the same names, same date of birth, or even the same eye colour. It didn’t take him too long to realize that Newt was doing the same process as him.

It also didn’t take Minho too long to realize that Newt’s movements were getting sloppier, from exhaustion.

Teresa brought two cups of coffee and put it down on the table before going back to the whiteboard. Newt heaved a deep breath and took the cup, but Minho stopped him.

Newt threw a questioning glare.

“Sleep, Newt,” Minho said with a firm tone. Newt wasn’t the only one who liked to order people around.

“I’m fine.” Newt insisted, lifting his cup of coffee.

Minho moved to put Newt’s cup down, “They’re taking turns, I think we should too.”

“Then you go first.”

“You’re three seconds from fainting.”

“Look at yourself.”

“I’m not the one who got a bad fever in the past week.”

“I told you I’m fin–”

“For God’s sake!” Teresa snapped, cutting the hushed argumentation between the executors, “If you’re about to have a lovers quarrel, better do it upstairs in bed. I’m fine staying up by myself.”

Newt threw an offended look at Teresa but Minho ignored her.

“I’m not stupid, I know what you’re trying to do,” Minho showed his stacks, “Go upstairs so I can finish this without your trembling hands getting in the way.”

Newt clenched his jaw but finally gave in. He put the papers down and walked away. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Make it two.” Minho retorted. Teresa rolled her eyes, those two were insufferable.

* * *

 

After some time close to two hours, they received another word from Aris. Thomas rushed down with Gally right when Teresa wrote the word.

BACK

“Same back?” Thomas said the two words out loud.

Minho squinted at it, “Same last names, maybe?”

“Same background?” Gally offered.

“It’s scrabble so… sack?” Thomas tried.

Teresa groaned at it, “What the hell is sack?”

“Came?”

“Beam?”

“Cakes?”

“No, it doesn’t make sense.” Teresa sighed out, putting an end to it.

“I’ll figure it out. You sleep,” Thomas inched closer to the whiteboard. “It’s your turn. And I don’t care if you’re not sleepy.” Thomas said, probably responding out loud to Teresa’s words inside his head.

Teresa looked irritated but went to the bedroom anyway. Thomas gave a small victorious smile, something Minho found a little funny and somewhat endearing. The banter between the siblings was… comforting.

“I’ll look up last names and backgrounds, then,” Gally made his way back to his chair, “You can get some sleep, Minho.”

“I matched up some same names here,” Minho tapped his finger on a thin stack of papers.

“Oh, great,” Gally stood up and took the stack. He then repeated, “Go to sleep.”

“Newt’s not back yet,” Minho tried. Now that was a new development, but he didn’t want to stop just yet.

“Good, that means he’s still asleep,” Gally pointed out, “We can’t afford having any of our executors exhausted or sick, can we?”

Minho couldn’t argue with that. They needed to be in their top condition. Always.

“Go, Minho. We’ll have a better chance of saving Aris when you’re well rested,” Thomas said.

Minho sighed and he walked towards the stairs. Thomas’ logic was sound and he didn’t have the strength to come up with some witty remark.

Thomas smiled and then added, “Oh, since Teresa’s in the spare room, I think you should use Newt’s room.”

* * *

 

Minho knocked once for formality’s sake. He opened the door quietly and stepped in, feeling wrong for intruding like this. Not wanting to wake Newt up, he decided on sleeping on the couch downstairs when he heard a muffled sound come from Newt.

“Stop…”

Minho did so right away. For a moment he thought Newt was awake and talking to him, but then Newt mumbled again, “No…don’t go…” It sounded suspiciously like a desperate plead.

Minho realized that Newt was talking in his sleep. He stepped further into the dark room and found Newt lying on his stomach, face down, clutching the pillow tightly. In the soft light of the dawn, Minho could see the glistening sweat on Newt’s skin.

“Don’t go…” Newt’s voice was hoarse and his feet were kicking softly.

Minho furrowed his brows in concern. He stood beside Newt and touched Newt’s shoulder.

It was hot. Newt was having a terrible fever.

Minho dashed outside and ransacked Alby’s kitchen. He took a bowl, filled it with water and ice, and took a hand towel with him. For a reason that he couldn’t comprehend, it hadn’t occurred to Minho that he should notify Gally or Thomas about this. He just quietly and briskly navigated his way through the house and came back to Newt’s room, concern painted all over his face. He dipped the towel into the iced water, placing the bowl on the bedside table, and climbed onto the bed to flipped Newt over.

The moment Minho turned Newt’s body, Newt groaned in obvious pain. Minho remembered the wound and lifted Newt’s shirt a bit to check on it.

Minho winced. The wound was still far from alright.

Minho racked his brain and decided that the towel would be difficult to apply if Newt couldn’t lie on his back because of the wound. He dashed out again, trying to find Alby’s first aid kit. He found it near the bathroom and rummaged through it. Fortunately, he found what he was searching for; the fever pads.

Minho didn’t know if the silly looking square thing would work, but he was glad that it stuck readily. He read the packaging briefly and applied it to Newt’s forehead. It felt cold touch so he thought it would work just fine. Once he’d applied it, he felt calmer.

The panic had subsided but Newt was still talking in his sleep. The words were slurred now and his movements had ceased, indicating he’d fallen asleep. Minho decided that there was nothing he could do anymore so he carefully slipped inside the blanket next to Newt. Trying to convince himself that he didn’t care how close he was to the other boy.

Minho had never been good at pretending, though. So, two minutes later, when Newt started to sounded more like he was sobbing than pleading, the other turned to look at Newt and studied the blonde’s face. He noticed that Newt had been crying and he wondered what Newt had been dreaming about; who Newt had been talking to and what the situation had been that had left him so vulnerable. Seeing the usually composed boy so exposed left Minho feeling uncomfortable and worried for the other. Newt, the one Minho associated with violence and trouble, had never seemed so miserable and exhausted.

Giving in to his instinct, Minho put his hand on Newt’s, squeezing it.

As Newt that slowly settled back into a calm, deep sleep, Minho succumbed to his.

* * *

 

When Minho woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. He felt slightly confused, but refreshed. To be honest, it had been awhile since he had slept so well. Ben had always haunted his sleep, but not this time.

Minho looked around and found that Newt was nowhere to be seen. The bowl of ice was gone too, making him suspect that last night’s events were just a part of his dreams. He stood up, washed his face, and hurried down to the garage area.

Teresa was there, Thomas was not; Frypan and Winston were back and sleeping on the couch; and Alby was studying the screens with Gally behind the keyboard.

Newt was back with the papers.

Minho wanted to check on Newt but the whiteboard caught his attention first. There were more words written there.

ROCK

BRAVO

BROKE

BOP

“Five hours,” Teresa said when Minho was next to her, “You’ve been asleep for five hours. Aris gave us a word every hour until he went silent for two hours. ‘BOP’ is the last word we’ve gotten so far.”

“Any idea what he’s trying to say?” Minho asked.

“Nope. Look at the words. They don’t make sense at all. I think he’s really trying to play scrabble with us.”

“Oh,” Minho stared at the words, “Alby, do you have Scrabble?”

“I think so. I’ll search for it,” Alby said and left.

Minho nodded and walked towards Newt. The blonde was standing next to the table, the papers piled up in stacks in front of him.

Without any prompting, Newt explained to Minho, his fingers pointing to the stacks from left to right, “Same names. Same background. Same birthdays. Same universities. Same schools.” Newt put his hands on his hips, “I don’t think this is helping. We still have too many variables. But we’ll get something from this. Soon, hopefully. It’s better than sitting here doing nothing.”

Minho nodded and observed the stacks. He was actually more interested in figuring out if Newt had really been sick or if he had just dreamt so. The other boy didn’t look terribly ill, so out of curiosity, Minho deliberately bumped his elbow against Newt’s arm while taking a stack of papers. It was far too warm. Newt still had a fever. Minho squinted at Newt.

Newt was obviously trying to avoid Minho’s gaze.

“You’re–”

“I appreciate that you didn’t tell the others,” Newt mumbled fast and low enough so the others wouldn’t hear him.

Minho understood and matched Newt’s way of communicating. He busied his fingers with another stack of papers and focused his eyes on it while mumbling back, “I think you should go to a doctor, though.”

“They’ll freak out,” Newt said, “Alby will.”

“Well…”

“Besides, the kiddie pad thing you gave me worked,” Newt tapped his finger to his temple once.

Minho hadn’t known that the pad was intended for children, of course. He was too panicked to notice that little detail. But, Newt didn’t need to know that, so he laughed, “Well, that proves that you’re still a kid.”

Newt threw a glare that made Minho worry that they would begin fighting each other once again. But then, the crease on Newt’s forehead disappeared and he started to laugh.

A weird relieved feeling washed over Minho, making him feel light. He laughed too, not that he could stop if he wanted to. Teresa and Gally looked at them with questioning glances, so the two boys tried to stifle their laughter and bring their focus back to the papers. Minho skimmed through the stack in his hands while stealing the occasional glance of Newt’s face, hoping that he was slightly red because of the laughter and not because of his fever.

Then, Newt whispered, “Thank you.”

Minho smiled genuinely. It had been far too long since he had last smiled like that. “Well, I did say that I’d make sure you wouldn’t die.”

Newt bit back a laugh and rolled his eyes.

Minho laughed too, “Hey, I was serious about that! I still am. “

“Well,” Newt looked up to Minho and smiled, “We call a truce, then?”

Minho grinned, “Truce, _partner_.”

And right then in that moment, Minho knew that he truly was serious about his words. More so than anything before.


	6. Chapter 6

SCRABBLE

SAME

BACK

ROCK

BRAVO

BROKE

BOP

FALSE

EAR

“That’s it!” Thomas said after he had finished forming the last word on the whiteboard.

The whole room was alerted by his exclamation and quickly crowded the board to take a look on it. The words were arranged with make-shift alphabet cards that Minho made in place of the Scrabble tiles that Alby couldn’t find. Each of the cards were palm-sized and striking to the eyes. Anyone could read the words, even from across the room.

“That’s it?” Alby asked.

“That’s what Aris said,” Teresa answered, “That’s it.”

“Well, damn!” Frypan made a face, “What are we supposed to do with that?”

“He did say scrabble, so–” Thomas tried to reorder some alphabets.

“Really now?!” a hint of sarcasm from Frypan.

“If you have any better idea, Fry, spit it out,” Newt said. His eyes trained on the words and his forehead was furrowed as if he was rearranging the words in his mind.

“Well, about that…” Frypan looked at Winston and cleared his throat, “Gally, could you please show us a map?”

“On the screen? Of course.” Gally got back to his place behind the keyboard and a map came up in a minute.

“So, they’re going to distribute the files the day after tomorrow,” Winston explained once everyone’s attention was directed to the screen, “The files will be carried using 4 trucks out of the facility. Two trucks will go straight to the airport, one truck to the station, and the last one will go to the White House.”

“We can hijack one of them, of course. But the moment they find out, they’ll reset the password.”

“We have to take the files without them knowing.”

“Exactly. Our best bet is getting the files while they’re in transit at the airport. The problem is, we have to make sure that we’re taking the right ones. They’ll find out sooner or later so we have to finish the mission before it happens.”

“Oh, shuck.” Newt cursed under his breath.

Winston gave a short nod and continued, “From the airport, the files will be taken in bundles and delivered to the states. The longest flight would be from here,” he pointed to the airport, “to here,” pointing out a straight line to Hawaii, “Honolulu. Which is around eleven hours. So if we take the bundle right before the plane takes off, we’ll hopefully have eleven hours before they’ll realize that it’s missing. We can also take the bundles that are going to this area,” Winston circled an area near Hawaii, including Alaska and California, “But we’ll have less time to do it.”

“I must say that this is really risky and the chance of us succeeding is–”

“Close to none.” Alby finished the sentence, his tone almost merciless.

“Yeah, we could get a whole bundle in one go but I doubt we’d be able to crack the code within eleven hours, or less for that fact.”

“And we might not even get matching files.” Newt added.

“Yeah, that too.” Frypan nodded gloomily.

“So, what are our options? What are we going to do now?” Minho asked, he didn’t like the desperation that was slowly settling in.

“If we can find a pair that match, we’ll take the files from them once they’re distributed. If we can’t, we’ll take the files from the ones that previously matched. If they don’t match anymore, then we’ll do it like before; taking one by one until we find a match,” Alby said with finality. He turned to the whiteboard and added, “And let’s hope that those words can give us something. Anything that helps.”

The room fell into silence before people started to get back to what they were doing. Winston and Frypan explained the new enhanced security system that the facility had been installed with and Gally put the information to the computer while Alby scribbled notes on the facility’s blueprints. Teresa and Thomas went back to focusing on the words and rearranging the letters.

When Newt left, seemingly to go back to the table with the pile of photos, Minho decided to follow. However, Newt walked it all.

“Newt?” Minho called out.

Newt didn’t turn around when he answered, “I’m getting sick of those photos.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.” Newt answered and walked past the door.

Minho looked at Alby, who just sighed–evidently used to Newt’s antics. It was then Minho noticed everyone had been looking at Newt, Alby, and him, yet no one said anything.

“Where is he going?” Minho asked, even though he wasn’t sure he was going to get an answer.

“Out. He said that already,” Alby answered shortly. After a moment, he sighed and added, “He’ll be back, don’t worry.”

Minho would have stayed, but he opted to run after Newt instead.

* * *

Minho was worried that Newt was already on his bike when he got out of the garage but it turned out that Newt wasn’t taking his bike. The blonde was walking down the road, pocketing his hands in his sweater’s pockets. He was smoking and his pace was slow. He was taking a stroll.

“Newt,” Minho called out and caught up.

Newt clicked his tongue but he kept his pace, not slowing or gaining speed. When Minho was by his side, he offered a cigarette and a lighter.

Minho shook his head briefly to refuse the offer. He watched as Newt pocketed them back and asked, “Where are you going?”

“Out.”

Minho groaned.

Newt inhaled the cigar and exhaled smoke. He scratched the side of his nose and added, “Really, just… out. Around. The air in that place is suffocating.”

“God, I thought you were going to disappear again.”

Newt snorted a laugh. “Relax, mate. I just want to clear my head up. Probably gonna head to a park around the corner and go back. That’s all.”

“Well, you’ve disappeared enough times to make me a little bit paranoid.”

“What? You’re worried about me now?” Newt laughed, “So that’s where we are now? Worrying about each other and all?”

Minho pushed Newt by the shoulder hard, enough to make Newt stagger to the side. “You could have at least said something, kiddo. Just so I know if you’re going to do something stupid again or not.”

“It wasn’t stupid!” Newt said immediately, no explanation needed to understand what they were referring to.

“Oh, so we haven’t agreed on that yet?”

“I was going to make it if–”

“ _We_  were going to make it. All of us. If only you had been a little bit more patient,” Minho cut in. A part of him told him not to, but he did it anyway because he had wanted to make a point, at least for now. Minho had been holding back on the topic because he was sure that they would start fighting again and he didn’t want that. But Minho couldn’t afford to be constantly worried that Newt might repeat his dramatic stunt again.

Newt’s mouth twitched, an unspoken defense already on the tip of his tongue. For a split second, Minho prepared himself for the blow that was already coming, inching up from the base of Newt’s throat. But then Newt sighed, “Alright, yeah, fine. It was stupid.”

Minho’s, unconsciously, balled fists unraveled. After a moment of processing Newt’s words, he laughed, the scene that would have been unthinkable in the weeks before. Their exchanges were fight-inducing and there was a high probability that it would end with their hands on each other’s throat. The fact that they could actually talk, even about that night, now relieved him. It started to feel right to stop being so cautious around Newt, to stop behaving like they were walking on a minefield. It was all behind them now. Minho swung his arm around Newt’s shoulder and patted Newt a couple of times, gaining an eye-roll and a hiss from the blonde.

“Stop laughing, you prick. Nothing is funny.”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” Minho said and tried to stop his laughter. He felt like he should continue the conversation while the ice was melting so he did, “But, really, why the hell did you do that?”

Newt shrugged, “I don’t know. I just… wanted to get it over with.” He inhaled his cigarette and added, “And I hated you, remember?”

“Ooh, past tense,” Minho teased and he received a strong whack to his head. He laughed. “I actually thought that you were just disappearing like always, to be honest. That’s what you get when you go by yourself too often.”

Newt shrugged and they turned towards the beach, distancing away from the park.

“Where, though?”

“Hm?”

“When you go by yourself, where do you go to?”

“Places.” Newt kicked a rock with his foot. “To the hill, the bar, the beach… Most of the times I just want to ride my bike, that’s all.”

“Heh. I thought you had a special place or something,” Minho was clearly not amused by the answer.

“What? Do you expect me to go to a bat-cave or something?” Newt smirked.

“Hogwarts would be cool.”

“What are you? Ten?”

“Ten out of ten. Yes.” Minho grinned.

Newt was stunned for a moment then he shook his head with a very amused smile. “You’re unbelievable,” he said while laughing. Newt decided to get back to the topic by saying, “No, really. No bat-cave, no Hogwarts. I just want to be alone.”

Being someone who clung had to Alby and then to Ben, because he had no one else in his life, it was only natural for Minho to ask, “Why would you?”

“I don’t know… I’m just used to it.”

The words got Minho thinking. Newt did seem like the type that didn’t enjoy the company of others. He rarely talked, only speaking for the sake of the mission, even then he gave off some sense of distance between himself and the others. Even Alby didn’t look like he’d have a casual talk with Newt. They had sustained this conversation for so long, probably because they had more things in common than their short temper. “Used to be alone, hm?”

“Why are you so surprised? I come from an orphanage, remember?” Newt stopped once they’re only a feet away from the water. He looked at the horizon and finished his cigarette.

“Well, I might not have gone to an orphanage, but I am an orphan too you know? Come to think about it, all of us are.”

“Fry’s parents are in Texas.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“Winston’s are in Philadelphia or somewhere.”

“I–”

“Gally has Chuck, triplets are triplets, and you had Ben.”

“You have Alby.”

“Oh, do I?” Newt laughed, “No. He just felt… obliged to help me. You know him.”

“Well…” Minho sighed. It’s always hard to have the last words with Newt. “No brothers or sisters? If not in blood then at least from the orphanage?”

“Nope.” Newt took a rock and threw it to the water. “Why are we talking about this again?”

“We’re partners. This is…uh…bonding.”

“Like hell I’d want to do some bonding with you.”

They laughed. Even though the burden of the mission was hanging on their backs, they laughed. Their minds relaxing and their heads clearing up. After hours of wrestling with stacks of files and photos, their bodies had screamed for fresh air and a bit of humour, and when they finally got it, it had felt good.

“How does it feel? To have a brother?” Newt asked in a light manner.

“Alby, you mean?”

“And Ben.”

Minho looked down to the sand and made patterns with the tip of his foot. He smiled, bitterly. Good memories were flashing through his head. And so did the bad ones. “It’s good. To always have someone to turn to. It’s…good.”

“Good,” Newt repeated the word as if he was studying it. “Good that, hm?” He inhaled a deep breath and Minho saw the slightest bit of smile forming on Newt’s lips. Then, Newt straightened his body, swept the sand off of his clothes, and turned around. “Do you think Tommy and Teresa would switch with us?”

“Hm?”

“I am so done with those photos. Playing Scrabble with the words sounds more fun.”

Minho laughed and they walked back to Alby’s.

* * *

Minho and Newt switched tasks with Thomas and Teresa once they got back to the garage. They submerged themselves into the given tasks for a couple of hours before Alby called for a dinner break. Frypan fixed up some steaks for them, only having just realized how hungry they were.

Throughout the dinner, they exchanged light conversations. Intentionally or not, they avoided asking about the progress of the mission because they all knew that nothing significant had been achieved. They talked about the weather, the food, and the beach that Minho and Newt visited. It slightly resembled a family dinner on a Christmas night, only with the thick fog of the burden of their mission hanging around them.

“We should call it a day.” Alby announced once they were done with the meal.

No one was objecting. Everyone was already tired and they couldn’t think clearly anymore.

“There are three rooms upstairs.”

“We’re fine with the couches down here,” Frypan talked for both him and Winston. “We’ll probably be out to meet some sources tonight, after all.”

“Alright. Teresa can have her own room. Thomas, you can sleep in my room.” Alby signaled for him to follow.

Again, no one was objecting. They cleaned the table and the kitchen, and then headed to their respective rooms. Minho went with Newt. They took turns showering and settled in the bed without much care.

Minho found himself wide awake and unable to sleep. The words spun inside his head and even though he was tired, his brain couldn’t rest. He was aware that Newt was struggling too, because Newt kept tossing and turning, constantly changing positions. But it came across to Minho that it might be for a different reason. “You should probably use the kiddie pad again, Newt.”

“I’m not a kid.” Newt mumbled. “But, yeah, probably I should.”

“Then, go,” Minho said because Newt wasn’t moving, “Get that kiddie pad.”

“I don’t need the kiddie one.”

“Kiddie, man. K-I-D-D-I-E. Kiddie!” Minho’s laugh was muffled by the pillow.

Newt groaned. “Fuck you.” He stood up and walked out from the room. However, a few seconds later he came back after having disappeared behind the door with knitted eyebrows. “Minho, how many words do we have, from Aris I mean?”

“Nine?”

“Without ‘Scrabble’?”

“Eight.”

“S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E. Eight,” Newt looked up with a bit of hope in his eyes.

“Same, back, rock…wait…holy shit!” Minho jumped out of the bed and both Newt and him dashed to the garage.

Minho and Newt arranged the words so they could see the word Scrabble formed vertically. They stepped back, looked at the arrangement, and analyzed them.

“Whoa.” Minho whispered.

“Do you see what I see?”

“I think so.” Minho went to the table and scanned through the files and photos. “I’m sure it’s here somewhere. I saw it.”

“Me too.” Newt came and helped Minho. After a while, Newt took a folder and spread it in the middle of the table. They looked at the photo, the name, and then at each other.

“It’s her. She is the one,” Minho declared.

“Yea, it’s her alright.” Newt agreed.

They looked at the board once again.

     **S** A **M** E

BA **C** K

     **R** O **C** K

BR **A** V **O**

     **B** R **O** KE

     **B** O **P**

FA **L** S **E**

     **E** A **R**

There, in a vertical line parallel to the word ‘Scrabble’, a name was formed. The name was written on one of the files they had been studying on.

_M. Cooper._


	7. Chapter 7

“M. Cooper,” Alby observed the whiteboard. Newt and Minho had woken everyone up and revealed their discovery, so they gathered up in the garage to examine it.

“Mary Cooper, yes.” Newt slid a photo across the table. Everyone turned and looked at it.

Alby took the photo up, assessed it, and addressed Winston and Frypan, “You guys know her?”

Winston and Frypan looked at the photo. Frypan confirmed, “Yes. She worked in the facility.”

“Not anymore, though.” Winston furrowed his eyebrows. “She was fired.”

“The reason?” Newt asked.

Winston and Frypan shook their heads. They didn’t know.

“Gally, would you?”

Gally was immediately on the computer the moment Alby requested him. Windows were opening on the screens and lists were showed. Gally leaned back, finally. “Yes. She was on the list, but not anymore. Listed as a researcher in the Department of Health until a couple months back and then, according to the documents, retired early from work because of… _classified_ reasons.”

“Retired? No. She was definitely fired. We had to drag her out from the facility,” Frypan stepped forward.

No one was able to respond to that. There were speculations forming in their heads. Each of them tried to figure out what was happening. Aris slipped this woman’s name through a complicated puzzle for them to crack, there had to be something that they had to do with her.

Winston was the first to voice out his question. “If she’s really the one, what should we do to her? She’s not going to get the file, so I guess we’re not going to steal it from her.”

“She was fired. Probably she’s on our side?” Thomas spoke up.

“So? We show up to her door and say things like, ‘Hello, Ma’am. Can you help us breaking to the facility?’.” Teresa’s words were sharp.

Newt held up a hand. “We can’t be sure so it’s too risky.”

“Precisely.” Teresa breathed out.

Alby sighed. The situation got tensed up and it’s pressuring everyone. “Twins, are you sure that’s all that Aris wanted to say?”

Thomas said, “We don’t know, they’re the ones deciphered it!”

“That’s all that we can come up with. Look at the board, Alby. I don’t think there’s more than that.” Minho gestured to the board.

“Alright,” Alby tried to think everything through. They had gotten so far but one wrong move could send them right to jail or worse, death. “Winston, Frypan, could you search more about this woman? Ask around or something?”

“Of course.”

“We need to gather more information about her. Gally will do it online meanwhile the rest of you will do it the old way. We’ll follow her. Spy on her.”

“Teresa’s good at acting. That’s what you said, right?” Minho asked.

Alby nodded, “Well, yes.”

Minho and Newt looked at each other again and nodded. They were on the same frequency now and Minho vaguely wondered if that’s how it feels to be telepathic.

“Do you think you can find a way to casually talk to her?” Newt asked. “We’ll observe her from afar and you’ll talk to her.”

“Well, I– I think I can.”

“Wait. Are you sending Teresa to talk directly to this woman?” Thomas looked worried.

“You’re the one who suggests to meet her. This is just a precaution,” Minho pointed out.

“She squeezed out information from notorious politicians before, this should be a piece of cake for her, don’t you think? Besides, we will all be there to back her up,” Newt added.

Thomas opened his mouth but then he closed it again. Minho and Newt were right and it’s not like they hadn’t done this before. He’s not usually got worried over this, so he willed himself to calm down. He nodded, and then Teresa nodded too. Everyone’s eyes were directed to Alby after that.

Alby didn’t respond immediately. He thought over it a million times in his head. After what happened to Newt and Minho, he didn’t feel like sending anyone to a mission. He knew eventually they would proceed with the mission, but he wasn’t quite ready yet.

“I can do this,” Teresa said, trying to assure Alby.

Alby sighed. “Okay. Newt and Minho will go first. When there’s a chance, Teresa will approach her and we will proceed like usual.”

Minho didn’t really know what ‘usual’ meant but he didn’t ask. He let Alby continue.

“But when something goes wrong, I want each and every one of you to come back immediately. Understand?”

“Yes, sir!” Everyone grinned, seemingly pumped up because of the new development.

Winston and Frypan immediately discussed things between themselves and proceeded to go out like they had planned before. Gally continued his typing like usual. Thomas and Teresa studied about the woman by reading the details that Gally provided.

Meanwhile, Minho and Newt didn’t even need to discuss it first before they approached Alby.

“Don’t you think the earlier the better?” Newt grinned to Alby.

“This is two in the–” Alby stopped himself and heaved a long breath. “You wouldn’t stop even if I said no, would you?”

“We wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.” Minho copied Newt’s grin. The sweet sense of victory that they gained by deciphering Aris’ message was really like a drug being injected to their bloodstreams; they were eager and excited.

Alby massaged the bridge of his nose and then said, “Gally, get them the gears.”

—

Minho and Newt went to Cooper’s house using Minho’s car because Minho insisted that the white van would be too suspicious in the residential area. He was the one driving because, apparently, Newt couldn’t drive a car. Their tension stayed high for the first two hours, but when the clock strike five and there’s still no movement detected because, well, it was five in the morning, they started to regret their decision to start early.

“Do you think we can go back for breakfast first?” Minho broke the silence.

Newt snorted a laugh. “We’re bloody idiots, aren’t we?”

“Nah, just young,” Minho laughed. He ducked his head lower to check on Cooper’s second story windows but nothing had changed. The lights were still off.

“I don’t know how Winston can do this; sitting, observing, and doing nothing for hours.”

“He’s a monk.”

“Yeah, that would be the only logical explanation,” Newt said and they laughed briefly. They succumbed to silence again right after that. Newt’s eyes were back to the house, but his mind was obviously somewhere else.

“What?” Minho asked.

Newt turned and made a face. “What?”

“You look like you want to talk about something. Spill it, dude.”

“I don’t.”

“You twitched!”

“Check your eyes, lad. I don’t twitch,” Newt retorted. A couple of minutes later, though, he opened his mouth again, “But probably talking isn’t a bad idea.”

“It isn’t?” Minho was amused that Newt said that.

“It kills time. Better than being killed by boredom.”

Minho laughed. “So what are we going to talk about?”

Newt shrugged. “You’re the one who likes to talk. With your bonding and such.”

Minho blinked at Newt, not really believing what he just heard. He then laughed a bit to ease off any awkwardness created by the lack of prompt response and said, “Good. I have a thousand of questions that I want to ask you.”

“Whoa, wait. You said bonding, not an interrogation. We have to set a rule here. For every question that you ask, I get to ask you a question too.”

“Oh, I thought you’re not interested in me.”

“I didn’t say that I’d ask about you.”

Minho made an expression. “Alright. But we have to be a hundred percent honest in answering questions. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Minho felt the excitement coming back to his being. He did have a lot of questions about Newt that he hadn’t found the proper time to ask yet. Newt was mysterious for him and he wanted to unravel the mystery bit by bit. Minho decided to start with, “Who… are you?”

“Newt,” Newt grinned and Minho rolled his eyes.

“No. I mean, tell me more about yourself. Anything. No one seems to know anything about you and I don’t want to speculate and make up stories in my head.”

“I’m…,” Newt gave it a thought before continuing in a cautious manner, “I’m an outsider. Have always been.”

Minho gave a confused expression.

“I was left on an orphanage’s porch when I was a toddler. I couldn’t remember my name nor my parents. Couldn’t remember anything, to be honest. The orphanage took me and I was misfit since day one. A weirdo that appeared out of nowhere with an accent but no name. Got adopted once but they brought me back after a year because I was broken. They returned me to the orphanage like they’d return a broken toy to the shop.”

“Broken?”

Newt exhaled a long breath and talked in a mimicked voice, “Isaac doesn’t like to play soccer. Isaac doesn’t want to go out from his room. Isaac’s marks are suspicious; he must be cheating. Isaac doesn’t like girls, he likes boys. Isaac this, Isaac that. Isaac is weird, we don’t want him.”

Minho could feel the hate in every syllable. Newt despised his past, he could sense that clearly. Some facts were not so surprising, but some others were. However, Minho didn’t want to talk about any of that. Rather, he said, “Isaac? Your name’s Isaac?”

Newt gazed at Minho with a stunned look for a couple of seconds. He certainly expected a different response. He didn’t mind this, though. Newt chuckled when he confirmed, “Yes. Isaac Newton. They thought it’s funny to name me that.”

“Isaac.”

“I swear I’ll kill you if you call me that.”

“Why? We’re partners, don’t you think we should be on first name basis now?” Minho dodged Newt’s playful punch. “Alright, your turn.”

Newt’s question came minutes later. “Tell me about… him.”

“Who?”

“Your brother–”

“Alby? I think you know him better than me.”

“No. Ben.”

“I’ve told you, he’s not my brother,” Minho smiled bitterly. “And why would you want to know about him, anyway? I thought this is supposed to be a bonding between us?”

“I didn’t say that I’d ask about you!” Newt laughed. “No one knows about me and you got curious. Everyone knows him but I don’t know a shit, don’t you think it’s just fair that I got curious too?”

Minho grinned, failing on his pretend to be offended. He took a deep breath and started answering, “Ben was… a tough guy. Kind, but tough. I don’t know… He had always been a figure to look up to since I was a kid. The first time I saw him, I was sure he’s a god or something.”

Newt didn’t look at Minho but Minho knew he was listening.

“He barged into the house with a bag of McDonalds. I was alone and the last time I ate was like days before that. In that situation, someone with Happy Meal is absolutely a god,” Minho smiled, reminiscing. “Then he asked me if I want to join him doing bad things. He was a god to me, okay? So I didn’t think about it. I said yes immediately and I don’t regret it at all. He took care of me nicely. He was a damn good leader.”

“Where was Alby?”

“With his parents in the hospital. Both were terminally sick and I knew Alby was falling apart. I survived by taking food from his kitchen for about a month but eventually there’s nothing more to eat. I was too afraid to ask for help. I didn’t want to end up in the orphanage. I thought my mom would come back to me.”

“Where… was she?”

“She said she was going to the supermarket to buy me candies and ice cream. I should have known better. No one packs their clothes to go to–” Minho stopped mid-sentence like he just remembered something. He turned to Newt and forced a smirk to form on his face. “Hey, aren’t we talking about Ben here?”

Newt was dumbfounded by the question. The depth of Minho story, even though was intended to explain about Ben, took him off-guard and made him forget his initial intention. He laughed awkwardly and said, “Ah, yes. Ben. How was he?”

Minho wore a smile that conveyed his gratitude that Newt didn’t prod further. “Like I said, he’s a damn good leader. He let me watch how it works first. Then, he trained me hard and taught me a lot of things like who to call if we ever got caught by the police and what lock is easier to pick. After months, he finally let me go with him. He always watched my back. Would have been dead a million times over if it’s not because of him, really. He’s a kind guy. This world is a messed up one because we call a person like him as an outlaw.”

“But he is.” Newt scoffed.

Minho glared at Newt but he held himself back from snapping because Newt didn’t know better. “He just– had nowhere to go, okay? I don’t know how and why, but he and his brother were being chased by cops. They couldn’t go to a hospital, even. Changing identities just didn’t cross our heads back then so he did what he had to do, even though I know for sure he didn’t exactly like it.”

Newt scoffed again. He looked away.

“For my brother.”

Newt looked at Minho.

“He always said that. ‘For my brother’. He did all the dirty jobs so his brother could live the life that he wanted. ‘For my brother’. Yes. That’s what kept him going,” Minho said. He looked at Newt, “If a man like that is a bad guy, what it makes us?”

Newt dragged his gaze away slowly. For some reasons, he looked shielded. Like suddenly he put his guard on.

Minho felt the air became awfully uncomfortable. He didn’t really like discussing Ben, anyway. It always made him feel a certain pain that he despised. So, he decided to move on. “Alright, next question.”

“Shoot.”

“What’s the deal with you and Ben? Did you know him before?”

“What?” Nino turned to look at Minho, startled.

“Don’t give me the crap,” Minho’s tone was getting softer. He felt like he was approaching a delicate topic. “You’ve been asking about Ben, again and again. I can tell that something is going on. It’s not just curiosity.”

“It is.”

Minho looked at Newt; at his eyes, at his gaze, at his quivering lips that were forming a thin line. “The deal is to be one hundred percent honest, Newt,” Minho reminded.

Newt kept staring at Minho. It was somehow like they were having a staring contest. In the end, Newt gave up. He looked away and groaned. “Alright, alright.” Newt trained his back at the house again and continued reluctantly, “You see, I’ve always been alone. This group is– _oh, God, Minho, why are you making me say this?_ –the closest thing to family that I have ever had. But,” Newt paused to groan again, “they all know Ben. Ben is that one thing they have in common, and I feel left behind because I don’t know him at all. They always talk about Ben. Ben this, Ben that. Ben the hero. Ben would do this, not that. Let’s do this for Ben. While me? I don’t give a damn about Ben because Ben is nothing but another name for me. I guess– I guess it’s… some kind of jealousy?”

Minho nodded, listening.

“I just… want to _beat_ him, I guess. Outrank him in everyone’s eyes, probably,” Newt sighed. “There, happy now?”

Minho observed Newt. “So, you’re jealous.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re being one hundred percent _honest_.” Minho put the weight of doubt to the sentence. It just didn’t make sense to him. It was too easy. Newt let it out just like that and it somehow didn’t suit him.

Newt looked at Minho, throwing an offended look. “Listen, Minho, I told you my first name, didn’t I? Do you think I will lie to you after that?”

Minho knew Newt wasn’t really offended and Minho, of course, didn’t miss how Newt’s cheeks turned red prettily. Minho chuckled. Newt looked so childlike, so boyish. Minho found him endearing in more ways than it was considered possible. He reached to Newt’s head, ruffling the hair with one hand, and said, “Alright, alright.”

“Hey–” Newt avoided Minho’s hand but limited space was making it impossible to do. Newt caught Minho’s hand and Minho reached with his other hand and, somehow, they were engaged in a giggle-decorated wrestling match, not a minute after. Maybe it was Newt trying to ease his embarrassment after saying such a confession, or maybe it’s just Minho being his playful self, but they fought like a couple of kids that they were. They pushed and pulled and laughed; hands ended up on face and neck and chest.

Then, Alby’s voice in their ears stopped them abruptly.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?!” Alby shouted mercilessly.

Minho and Newt sat up straight on their seats. They became alerted immediately.

“Movements. She’s going out,” Alby said.

Minho looked at the house. Alby was right. The door was opening, revealing a woman in a robe.

“Yes,” Newt responded just for the sake of responding.

“Good Lord, get your act together, okay?!” Alby warned. “Teresa’s ready. She will go through the street as a jogger and greet her if it’s possible.”

“Okay,” Minho answered. He stole a glance to Newt and tried to swallow his laughter.

Newt threw him a deathly glare, but it was obvious that he was trying so hard to hold his laughter too.

“I’m going,” Teresa said.

Everyone stopped and put their whole attention to Teresa. Gally and Alby from the surveillance cameras, Thomas from the van, and Minho and Newt from the car. The woman was taking her newspaper, apparently. She lingered for a while, checking her mailbox, and Teresa ran close to her. Teresa slowed her pace, locking her eyes with the woman. She was about to throw a casual ‘hi’ when the woman’s eyes widened at her.

“Teresa?” the woman spelled out.

The next thing they knew, Teresa was taken inside in a rush by the woman.


End file.
